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nOne morning (November 7, 1940, to be exact) the Tacoma (Washington) Narrows Suspension Bridge began tonsway in a 40 mph (65 kph) wind.
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nThis slender, graceful bridge, one of the longest suspension bridges in the world at the time, had only been open to traffic for four months.
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nAnnewspaper editor named Leonard Coatsworth was driving over the bridgenwhen the swaying became so violent that he lost control of the car. Henjammed on his brakes and tried to get out. He was flung to thenground, and his face hit a curb. Hearing concrete cracking all aroundnhim, Coatsworth couldn’t get onto his feet—so he crawledndesperately back toward the toll plaza. n
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nHenthought he was a goner.
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nFortunately,nCoatsworth was able to crawl about 500 yards to the towers. He was gasping for breath, and his knees and hands were raw andnbleeding. He finally was able to get to his feet and run—althoughnhe had to start-and-stop with the swaying—and he finally made it tonsafety.
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nUnfortunately,nCoatsworth had been taking his daughter’s black cocker spaniel backnto her house when this happened, and thenterrified dog didn’t follow him to safety. There was a lull in thenwind, and two other men—an engineering professor and a news photographer—riskedntheir lives trying to rescue the dog. However, the dog stillnrefused to leave the car, and in its terror, it even bit one of hisnwould-be rescuers. The bridge began to sway violently again, and thentwo men lurched back to safety without the dog.
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nSeveralnpeople filmed the disaster with motion picture cameras, and asnCoatsworth and others watched, the bridge broke apart, and bridge andncar fell into the water. The dog’s body was never recovered. No humannlife was lost.
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nBecausenit happened more than 50 years ago, it seems crazy that we have greatnfilm on the collapse of the bridge, but we do—in color!—andnhere it is.
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nEngineersnlearned from the bridge’sncollapse and were able to make later bridges safer. Try your hand at bridge engineering on this Nova website—where you will find info and a bridge-building game!
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