,,international ,,bridge ,,authority ,,sault ,,ste4 ,,marie ,the ,international ,bridge ,authority is a board composed of members from the ,province of ,ontario and the ,state of ,michigan4 ,its purpose is to oversee management and operation of the ,international ,bridge4 ,for information1 write to3 ,p4,o4 ,box #cag ,sault ,ste4 ,marie1 ,,mi #dighc ,illustration3 ,sault ,ste4 ,marie ,bridge ,,bridge ,,facts ,name3 ,the ,sault ,ste4 ,marie ,international ,bridge ,length3 ,total maintenance length from ,american and ,canadian approaches--#b4h miles4 ,cost3 #bj1jjj1jjj4 ,designers3 ,steinman1 ,boynton1 ,gronquist ,london1 ,new ,york4 ,construction3 ,started ,september #af1 #aifj4 ,opened to traffic ,october #ca1 #aifb4 ,width3 #bh foot roadway between curbs1 providing #ad foot traffic lanes in each direction4 ,tolls3 #a4ej each way for passenger cars4 ,no extra charge for passengers4 ,canadian money accepted at par4 ,height3 ,roadway is #ade feet above ground level at its highest point4 ,clearance3 ,bridge has #abd feet minimum vertical clearance above low water in ship canals4 ,weight3 #abe1jjj tons of which #aad1jjj tons are concrete and #aa1jjj tons are structural steel4 ,colors3 ,green and ivory4 ,speeds3 ,maximum #cj miles per hour4 ,,from ,,dreams ,,to ,,reality ,the ease of traveling through the ,locks or over the ,st4 ,mary's ,rapids is now taken for granted but the dreams of building these structures began over a hundred years ago1 just after ,michigan became a state in #ahcg4 ,illustration3 ,canoes crossing the river ,traveling from one side of the river to the other first began in canoes4 ,bands of ,ojibwa ,indians would camp and fish at the rapids they called 8,bawating01 meaning rushing water4 ,the rapids became a gathering point for as many as #ej1jjj ,native ,americans each summer1 for centuries4 ,in the #afjj's it became a settlement for ,french explorers and fur traders4 ,through wars control of the rapids went to the ,british in the mid #agjj's and finally1 a shared border with the ,united ,states in the #ahjj's4 ,illustration3 ,building a lock ,as copper and iron ore were discovered in the western ,upper ,peninsula in #ahcj1 ship traffic increased but had to be portaged over land at the rapids4 ,this difficult task eventually led to construction of the first lock in #ahee1 and the second in #ahga1 a joint venture between the ,state of ,michigan and the ,u4,s4 ,government4 ,in #ahhj1 the first land transportation over the river between the ,u4,s4 and ,canada was established with a railroad bridge4 ,in #ahie1 the ,canadian ,lock was completed4 ,in #aidc and #aifi two other ,u4,s4 locks were built1 one of which is capable of carrying the #ajjj ft4 super freighters4 ,from the #ahhj's til the #aifj's the only forms of transportation across the ,st4 ,mary's ,river1 between the two ,saults1 were ferries and the railroad bridge4 ,the inconvenience and delays of those days have been eliminated1 thanks to the ,international ,bridge4 ,,sault ,,ste4 ,,marie 8,rapids ,of ,sainte ,mary0 ,,international ,,bridge ,illustration3 ,the bridge site ,nearly a decade of engineering study1 legislative action in ,lansing1 ,washington1 ,toronto1 and ,ottawa1 and the sale of bonds to finance the project preceded construction of the bridge4 ,michigan ,governor ,g4 ,mennen ,williams and ,ontario ,treasurer ,james ,n4 ,allen were the main participants in groundbreaking ceremonies for construction of the bridge on ,september #af1 #aifj4 ,illustration3 ,bridge piers under construction ,dr4 ,carl ,gronquist of the consulting engineering firm1 ,steinman1 ,boynton1 ,gronquist and ,birdsall1 designed the two-mile long bridge supported on #fb piers that would cost #bj1jjj1jjj4 ,the ,michigan ,state ,highway ,department agreed to construct the ,michigan approach to the bridge1 a project costing very close to #d1jjj1jjj1 which was tied into the ,interstate ,freeway system and financed #ij percent by federal funds4 ,the ,international ,bridge ,authority then proposed a bond issue of #af1bej1jjj to raise the remainder of the money4 ,the issue was divided into #h1djj1jjj in ,series ,a bonds to be sold on the ,new ,york market1 and #g1hej1jjj in ,series ,b bonds1 all to be retired within #dj years from bridge revenues4 ,to facilitate financing1 the ,province of ,ontario bought the entire ,series ,b bonds in one sale and thus guaranteed a quick sale for the ,series ,a bonds in the ,united ,states bond market4 ,the ,international ,bridge was opened to traffic on ,october #ca1 #aifb4 ,illustration3 ,bridge span under construction ,sault ,ste4 ,marie1 ,michigan ,sault ,ste4 ,marie1 ,ontario ,illustration3 ,the completed bridge ,,the ,,bridge ,,view ,located to the west of the locks and running parallel with the railroad bridge1 the ,international ,bridge 8takes off0 from the ,u4,s4 side near the campus of ,lake ,superior ,state ,university which overlooks the area from the site of the former ,fort ,brady4 ,as you enter the first archway1 the world famous ,soo ,locks are visible below4 ,further on1 you'll pass the ,international ,boundary at the middle of the ,bridge4 ,off to the west you'll see a series of #af gates4 ,these gates control the water flow from ,lake ,superior down to the other connecting ,great ,lakes4 ,the management of this water flow is operated by the ,international ,joint ,commission which makes determinations of gate activity based on the various lake levels4 ,within the rapids area1 produced by the water rushing through the gates1 there is a concrete berm1 or wall1 stretching about one quarter of a mile4 ,the berm was constructed as a joint operation by the electric utilities of the ,u4,s4 and ,canada4 ,its objective is to keep an adequate water flow around ,whitefish ,island1 a natural spawning ground for salmon4 ,illustration3 ,the river below the bridge ,just beyond ,whitefish ,island is the ,canadian ,lock and then the power canal and the hydro-electric generating station of ,great ,lakes ,power4 ,approaching ,sault1 ,ontario1 there is an excellent view of the city's growing industrial complex with huge plants of the ,algoma ,steel ,corporation--one of ,canada's largest steel mills--to the west1 and the ,st4 ,marys ,inc4 paper plants to the east4 ,the volume of traffic between the two ,saults has more than quadrupled in the first twenty-five years of operation4 ,some #b1bcd1jjj vehicles crossed the bridge in #aihg1 as compared to #dae1jjj vehicles carried by the ferries during their final full year of operation in #aifa4 ,published by ,bill ,davie1 ,trinity ,productions4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,st4 ,,mary',s ,,international ,,waterway ,,between ,,the ,,two ,,sault ,,ste4 ,,maries from ,photograph taken #aigh ,transcriber's ,notes --,silently corrected a few typos4 --,retained publication information from the printed edition3 this e,book is public-domain in the country of publication4 --,in the text versions only1 text in italics is delimited by underscores4