The Bridge of Death (slightly epic)

[EricKei]

We have this nice, narrow two-lanes-each-way bridge here called the Huey P Long -- long (ha!) story short, it's quite high up, it's steep over a good chunk of its length, and it's quite narrow -- so much so that there are signs all over it that expressly forbid "Trucks" from passing other trucks. Wise people don't try to pass Trucks on there even if they're in compact cars, as even passing normal-sized vehicles is rather stressful (you can see all the way down to the river and it's a loooooooong way down). Nobody with a brain cell in their head tries to pass Semi's at all -- we just let them straddle the middle line instead, due to the fact that their vehicles are generally wider than the lane they're traveling in...It used to be a service road for the (still-active) train trestle that really should never have been made into a 2-lane road to begin with. Not a good place for people who dislike heights to be.

Any way, enough background. This is from a couple of years back.

At the northern end of the bridge, there is a cross-street that has a Stop sign where people at ground level just have to wait until the road is free if they want to cross or turn. People coming off of the bridge (a somewhat steep downramp at this point) do not have to stop, as doing so would ruin plenty of brakes and cause pileups. One fine afternoon, I was one of only a couple of cars going northbound on the Huey P. As I crested the ridge and was being helped along by gravity to nearly the foot of the bridge (read: accelerating), I saw someone in a small car pull up to the stop sign. Had she been wise, she would have waited ten seconds for me to pass by...I assumed that she lacked wisdom, so I started to brake a bit, just in case. I would not have been able to stop completely in time without basically ripping the tires off of my car. As I said, steep.

Naturally, this femme fatale decided that the best course of action would be to pull out in front of me and make a left turn without turning her blinker on... The only reason she did not find out what happens when a Grand Marquis hits a compact car at 45mph is that she turned into the far lane...Meaning, she had technically cut off the guy 5 seconds behind me (he was in the right lane), rather than me in the left lane...but his presence was the only thing stopping me from swerving right to get out of her way, as she initially appeared to be turning into my lane >_<

Of the many thoughts going through my head, a Gallagher line struck me and came to the fore -- "Are you THAT f#%king STUPID?!" -- apparently, the answer was "Yes", as she proceeded to meander among the two lanes, nearly hitting someone ahead of us, before she finally made up her alleged mind. I really wish a cop had been present, so that he could have cut up her license in front of her for this stunt >_>

[Shalom]

Dayum. And I thought the Goethals Bridge was bad.

Google satellite view on that one makes it look like the road traffic lanes were an afterthought, grafted on later. You can see where they're working on widening it, though.

(Also looks like the aerial photos were taken on different days, and not stitched together very well. If you zoom all the way in and follow the tracks, you can see every border. There's even a train that was in one photo and not the bordering one; it looks like it appears from nowhere, with the tail end in the Twilight Zone.)

[ApolloSZ]

"He who wants to cross this bridge must answer these questions three, 'ere the other side he see."

And yes, I kept thinking "WHAT is your name, WHAT is your favourite colour, WHAT.... istheaverageflyingspeedofanunladenswallow" while reading your post.

[EricKei]

WHAT.... istheaverageflyingspeedofanunladenswallow?

African or European?

And yes, the "road bridge" part was originally meant for use only by railroad maintenance workers. Using is as a "normal car" bridge was indeed an afterthought.

And yes, they are *finally* widening it. At the North end, a new construction project recently began -- see that overpass (that's where the lady ahead of me was swerving)? That's either gone now or will be soon. They've added lights and will set up flyover lanes so that people getting on/off the bridge can use flyover lanes and not bother the east-west traffic at all.

[Ironclad Alibi]

We have this nice, narrow two-lanes-each-way bridge here called the Huey P Long -- long (ha!) story short, it's quite high up, it's steep over a good chunk of its length, and it's quite narrow -- so much so that there are signs all over it that expressly forbid "Trucks" from passing other trucks.

Is this the correct bridge: Huey P. Long Bridge?

As I zoomed in on the bridge, the view changed from an overhead view to a side view. (It takes a second or two for the side view to kick in.) I had not encountered that before on a Google map.

[Andara Bledin]

As I zoomed in on the bridge, the view changed from an overhead view to a side view. (It takes a second or two for the side view to kick in.) I had not encountered that before on a Google map.

Yeah, that's a fairly recent addition.

Now, if you zoom past the most zoomed in you can with the satellite image, it'll swap over to "street view" if there is one.

^-.-^

[EricKei]

IA - Yup! That's the one!

It gave me two city names and ZIP codes at your link --- The "roundabout" area at the south end is called Bridge City -- for obvious reasons. The north end is Harahan or Jefferson. The ramp down is a bit past the river road (the tract of green space), but it's hard to tell from the overhead view. The train trestle itself continues independently after the car-bridge reaches ground-level.

If you're playing around in the Street View, see if you can find the nice big blatant signs advertising our thriving adult video and/or "gentlemen's club" shops >_>

[Jetfire]

Is this the correct bridge: Huey P. Long Bridge?

As I zoomed in on the bridge, the view changed from an overhead view to a side view. (It takes a second or two for the side view to kick in.) I had not encountered that before on a Google map.

It's just Google swapping in different data that they have available depending on their zoom level. In this case, they seem to have pics available from a low aerial flyby, and probably a satellite view, so they start with the satellite view until you zoom in close enough for them to decide the aerial view has enough detail to be visible.

If you zoom out further (around the 1 inch == 2mi scale to the 1inch == 1 mile scale) you will see the view changes from a grey detailed view to a less detailed view that has the river a deep blue colour. That's another data/picture source swap, probably from an older satellite view.

The copyrights reflect that. The high level view is copyright TerraMetrics, the midlevel zoom is from the GeoEye US Geo Survey/USDA Farm Survey (it is the most recent I suspect; hard to tell with the copyright dates listed), and the closest view is owned by Google itself it would seem; probably a aerial survey they contracted for.