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Galloping Gertie?

What was the Galloping Gertie made of?

Galloping Gertie a.k.a. Tacoma Narrows bridge, was a steel w/asphalt road surface suspension bridge over the Tacoma Narrows between Gig Harbor, WA and Tacoma, WA. The bridge was similar in appearance to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

The issue that caused it fall was that the bridge deck was solid, the wind coming through the narrows caused the bridge deck to act like a sail. Once it started oscillating due to wind the bridge deck would dance around like waves.

To fix the bridge after it fell, the put in a steel mesh bridge deck that allowed the wind to pass through. These bridge decks are common on bridges now.

Last I was in Tacoma (2 years ago) they were in process of building a new bridge in parallel with the old one. Don't know if the original bridge is still place or not.

Seach wikipedia, I'm sure it's full of info on the Tacoma Narrows bridge. It's an example of engineering disasters that are heavily studied in engineering schools to this day. It's an example of resononse.