It is time to expand
bridge treks to include those done by driving, not just by walking. There are
limits to the number of major bridges that one can walk across, but there are
lots of bridges, for good or for bad, that allow automobiles only. I will concede that, if you're going to build bridges, then transporting vehicles should be their main purpose, so we won't exclude the vehicle-only bridges from bridge treks. And even
though I've said that if one can walk across a bridge, then one can drive
across it, I will also say that it is possible to drive across major bridges without walking
first. At least that's the plan.
Our first driving-only
bridge trek, done a couple of days before Christmas, was the Casciano Memorial Bridge. No one really knows it by that
name, but rather as the Newark Bay Bridge or, like reading it off the map,
the I-78 New Jersey Turnpike Extension Bridge. Now I'm sure you know where we
are: in New Jersey. The bridge connects the cities of Newark and Bayonne on
Interstate 78, and yes it does go over Newark Bay and is a major link between
the Holland Tunnel (to New York City ) and northern New Jersey. If you are
going from northern New Jersey to Liberty Park in Jersey City, where you can
get the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, or into lower Manhattan via the Holland
Tunnel, this is your bridge.
The bridge is about
1.8 miles long, and does have a good bit of climb to it. According to the Wikipedia entry, it reaches some 135 feet above Newark Bay, making it about the same
height as, for example, the Brooklyn Bridge. However, the bridge was undergoing
construction and it was impossible to see beyond the side barriers. So, it was
anything but scenic, and the drive over it was finished very quickly, unlike walking over
such a bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge, for example, is about the same length as
the Newark Bay Bridge, and it took upwards of one hour to cross it by foot. (I just
wanted to get those two bridges into the same sentence, which I figure is quite
rare. It is hard to top the experience of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, but we'll keep looking.)
I took no photos of the Newark Bay Bridge, but
wiki provides a couple (shown above). The scariness of this bridge was mainly an issue of
having big barriers right up against the
lane, requiring focus, rather than the height. I will say, though, the
bridge did seem to go on and on, and the climb up was noticeable. Ah, the joys of driving over bridges. It's
always something. I will give it a scariness rating of 12 based on its vertical
climb and very narrow lanes, as well as its significant length.