Jul 23, 2011

Top 10 World's Scariest Bridges

1. Aiguille du Midi Bridge(France)


Built in 1955
Location: The summit of Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif near Chamonix.
Stats: 12,605 feet above sea level.

It is one of the scariest bridge of the world. Fortunately, the bridge itself is short, making for an easy escape if acrophobia sets in. But those truly afraid of heights probably won’t even see the bridge; getting here requires taking a cable car that climbs 9,200 vertical feet in just 20 minutes.It still holds the record as the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world, from 1,035 m to 3,842 m.

2. Royal Gorge Bridge (Colorado)

Built in: 1929
Location: Royal Gorge, Colorado, over the Arkansas River.
Stats: 969 feet above the gorge; 1,260 feet long.

America’s highest suspension bridge,hanging above Colorado’s wild Arkansas River, the Royal Gorge Bridge. Built in 1929 for $350,000, the cost today would easily exceed $15 million.

3. Trift Suspension Bridge(Switzerland)

Built in: 2004
Location: Trift Glacier, near the town of Gadmen in the Swiss Alps.
Stats: 328 feet high; 558 feet long.

Trift was built in 2004 to reconnect hikers to a hut made inaccessible by a retreating glacier. A replacement in 2009 gave this bridge higher handrails and stabilizing cables to prevent it from swinging violently in the wind.Trift Bridge is the longest pedestrian-only suspension bridge in the Alps.

4. Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge(Northern Ireland)

Built in:hundreds of the years ago.
Improved in year:2000
Location: Near Ballintoy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Stats: 65 feet long; nearly 100 feet above the rocks below.

A short coastal footpath leads to Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.Traditionally fishermen erected the bridge to Carrick-a-Rede island over a 23m-deep and 20m-wide chasm to check their salmon nets. Today visitors are drawn here simply to take the rope bridge challenge! It used to be even scarier. The rope bridge eventually became popular with tourists seeking a thrill, and the National Trust replaced it with a sturdier structure with two handrails.

5. Capilano Suspension Bridge(Canada)

Built in: 1889
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia, across the Capilano River.
Stats:136 metres (446 ft) long and 70 metres (230 ft) above the river

It was originally made of hemp ropes with a deck of cedar planks, and was replaced with a wire cable bridge in 1903. It draws over 800,000 visitors a year.The Cliffhanger attraction will allow visitors to climb across a series of suspended walkways attached to a cliff.

6. Mackinac Bridge(Michigan)

Built in:1983
Location: Between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
Stats:5 miles long; 199 feet above the water.

Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge with two towers between anchorages.Here driving is so hard ,that the Mackinac Bridge Authority will drive your car or motorcycle for you (and for free). The biggest fear is the wind, which often exceeds 30 miles per hour on the bridge.

7. Puente de Ojuela(Mexico)

Built in:19th century
Location: The ghost town of Ojuela, an old mining settlement in the northern state of Durango, Mexico.
Stats: 1,043 feet long; 2 feet wide; 360 feet above a gorge

The squeaky wood floor of the bridge make it scary. Fortunately, steel cables suspended from two towers bring a greater feeling of safety. Still, steel is a relatively recent addition: when German engineer Santiago Minhguin built this bridge in the 19th century, those towers were made of wood.

8. Chesapeake Bay Bridge(Maryland)

Built in:1950
Location: Spanning the Chesapeake Bay to connect Maryland’s eastern and western shores.
Stats: Nearly 5 miles long; 186 feet high at its highest point.

As it’s subjected to frequent—and often violent—storms,drivers are afraid of it. And when the bad weather hits, forget about visibility .

9. Monkey Bridges(Vietnam)

Built in :1590
Location: Various points across the Mekong Delta at the southern tip of Vietnam.
Stats: These bridges are built by hand by local residents and vary from town to town. Newer ones are made of concrete.

These simple, arch-shaped footbridges are usually built of uneven logs about 30cm to 80cm wide and have only a simple bamboo railing. However, the name comes from the stooped monkey-like posture you have to maintain when crossing, so as not to plunge into the river below.the first bridge on this site was constructed in the 1590s.

10. Hussaini Hanging Bridge(Pakistan)

Built in: 1421
Location: In the village of Hussaini in Northern Pakistan, crossing the Hunza River.
Stats: Floodwaters reportedly submerged the bridge in May 2010. However, due to its draw as a popular adventure-travel activity, the bridge is likely to be rebuilt.

The bridges very old, missing planks, extremely narrow, and high above the lake.Crossing this bridge over the rapidly flowing Hunza River is particularly frightening, as the tattered remains of the previous bridge hang by threads next to the one currently in use.
 
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