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The Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state, with its 1.9 km span, was one of the largest suspended bridges built at the time.
It opened to traffic on July 1, 1940 and was quickly nicknamed "Galloping Gertie" because of its rolling and undulating behavior: on windy days, motorists driving on it felt like being on a huge wave and would see the cars ahead disappear from view!
On November 7, 1940, (four months after its opening) very strong winds sent the bridge into its rolling and undulating behavior a last time before collapsing.
mpeg movie (700 kB)
This film was taken by a witness to the accident. Since then, this footage has been studied by all civil engineering students!
A new and
safer bridge replaced
"Galloping Gertie" in 1950
and is still in use today.
It is said that the new nickname of the bridge is
... "Sturdy Gertie".