In an effort to shave approximately $13,000 off of its annual operating costs the Mackinac Bridge Authority and MDOT have put in place a plan to shut off the bridge’s decorative lighting beginning at 1 a.m. In the past the decorative lights came on a sunset and shut off at sunrise.
This way, folks can [...]

I love this old 8mm film of someone crossing the Mackinac Bridge in 1958. Not much has changed since then. About halfway across the bridge you even get to see Michigan’s unofficial state flower - the orange traffic barrel. It’s an authentic steel drum painted orange - not one of those plastic [...]

Michigan.gov has a great photo gallery of the Mackinac Bridge celebrating it’s 50 years of service. You can view them here. I must admit that the photos would be much better if they did not have a large and ugly watermark slashed across each photo.
The photos are broken down into three galleries - [...]

I just put up a page at Squidoo.com about the Mackinac Bridge. In case you didn’t know, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the completion and opening of the bridge. Numerous events are being held this year in honor of the Mackinac Bridge’s 50th and there is some pretty neat stuff at [...]

Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel’s show Dirty Jobs, and his crew will make a visit to the Mackinac Bridge this Friday, May 25. They will focus on the never ending work that maintenance crews face to keep the bridge in tip-top shape.
I have always admired those who work on the [...]

The Mackinac Bridge officially opened on November 1, 1957 and this year is celebrating 50 years of spanning the straits. Part of the year-long celebration is the introduction of four really great 50th Anniversary posters of the Mighty Mac.

The $4 fee for each poster includes - postage, printing, and sales tax. I think I might buy the whole set and build a custom frame to hold them all.

I can’t imagine they are making much (if any) money off of these. If they are actually making a small profit on the posters, I haven’t the foggiest what it would be for. Hopefully a charity (of course with the state’s budget the way it is - Michigan could possibly qualify as a charity these days) would be the recipient of any funds.

Here are the thumbnails of the actual posters. You can view somewhat larger versions at Michigan.gov.

30 X 12 - Printed in Silver & Black


30 X 12


16 X 25


15 X 30

You can order by phone, fax, or snail mail and can pay by check or credit card. For more information head over to Michigan.gov.

On January 27th the State Historical Museum will begin a year of celebrating the technical marvel that is our Mackinac Bridge.
Here is a bit of what you can expect to see at the museum on the 27th -

Kim Nowack, Mackinac Bridge Authority Engineer, will present a fascinating overview of the 50-year history [...]

Update: This is in relation to yesterday’s post about a possible terror plot involving the Mackinac Bridge.
The FBI is reporting that there is no evidence linking the three Texas men that were arrested in Caro for purchasing 80 cell phones and having about 1,000 total cell phones in their van with a terrorist plot. [...]

Three Texas men of Middle Eastern heritage were picked up by authorities in Caro after purchasing 80 prepaid cell phones at a local Wal-Mart. Upon their arrest around 1,000 prepaid cell phones were found in their van along with photos of the Mackinac Bridge.

Does an overabundance of prepaid cell phones and pictures of the Mackinac Bridge mean that the world’s third-largest suspension bridge is a target for possible terrorism? It is still too early to tell. There is already public outcry from the Arab and Muslim population about ethnic profiling being the real reason these men were picked up.

I don’t care what color or religion you are. I would be suspicious of a white guy in an expensive three-piece suit if he was purchasing 80 prepaid cell phones. The three men and their families are stating that this was merely a business venture. They were purchasing cell phones to sell back in Texas for a profit.

The bombs in Madrid, Spain in 2004 were detonated using cell phones. I don’t blame the Wal-Mart employee and local authorities for being suspicious. The media would have their heads if they had done nothing and something horrific had happened such as the Mackinac Bridge being blown up.

A relative of the three men, Ala Mustafa, was quoted by CBS 11TV (a Texas CBS affiliate) as saying, “I want to congratulate them, that small town in Michigan. Congratulations you got the spot in the media and the whole world. Everybody knows your town now. Release those guys, they are innocent.”

I am pretty sure that the Tuscola County law enforcement officials are not in cohorts with the local chamber of commerce in some grand scheme for national publicity that involves arresting innocent people in order to be mentioned by the national media.

I really do hope that there is not a plot to destroy the Mackinac Bridge. If the only thing these guys are guilty of is purchasing cheap cell phones and selling them for more money to folks who don’t know they can get the same deal at Wal-Mart - I am okay with that. I am not yet ready to live in a country where acts of terrorism are a daily occurrence.

Via the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.

Someone videotaped their trip over the Mackinac Bridge while listening to the history of the bridge that is played on AM 530 out of St. Ignace and AM 1610 out of Mackinaw City. If you have ever crossed the bridge you might remember that the Mackinac Bridge Authority uses these two radio stations for alerts about the bridge conditions and information on how to have a safe crossing.

In between loops of the bridge conditions (when there are not high winds or other problem-causing storms present) the radio stations play a brief history of the Mackinac Bridge.

Anyway, this video shows a Mackinac Bridge crossing from the viewpoint of the driver and in the background you can get an audio history of the Mighty Mac. At first I thought a passenger was recording the video as you really should use both hands on the steering wheel when crossing the bridge. Then, towards the end of the video the camera pans to an empty passenger seat which would lead me to believe that it must be the driver recording the video. Unless there is someone leaning forward from the backseat and recording out of the front windshield.

The video is just under 3.5 minutes. If you have trouble viewing the video through this blog you can see it directly at youtube.com here. All Things Michigan and Gift Baskets From Michigan LLC are not responsible for the other content that might be found at youtube.com and are only recommending this particular video.