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Tacoma Narrows Bridge | Historical archives | Underwater images/video | Exploration updates
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge:
The original, 5,939-foot-long Tacoma Narrows Bridge, popularly known as "Galloping Gertie," opened to traffic on July 1, 1940 after two years of construction, linking Tacoma and Gig Harbor. The bridge earned the nickname "Galloping Gertie" from its rolling, undulating behavior. Motorists crossing the 2,800-foot center span sometimes felt as though they were traveling on a giant roller coaster, watching the cars ahead disappear completely for a few moments as if they had been dropped into the trough of a large wave. The Narrows bridge collapsed just four months after it opened, during a 42-mile-per-hour windstorm on Nov. 7, 1940.