What happened at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was a 2,800-foot (853 meters) suspension bridge spanning Puget Sound in Washington State. On November 7, 1940 the bridge—popularly called Galloping Gertie—was hit by high winds that caused it to buckle and sway like a ribbon. As a result of an engineering error, the bridge finally collapsed. Although suspension bridges had been used in the United States for 140 years, the Tacoma Narrows disaster prompted engineers to use more caution when designing bridges. Engineers began to conduct full aerodynamic analyses to predict how a bridge would react in the wind. Further Information: Bortz, Fred. Catastrophe! Great Engineering Failures—and Successes. New York: Scientific American Books for Young Readers, 1995, pp. 17–24; Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster.
