Michigan

Michigan is two peninsulas, and until November 1, 1957, the way between them was a boat. The state began running automobile ferries across the Straits of Mackinac in 1923, and at the peak the backups ran as long as sixteen miles. In 1950, cars waiting at Mackinaw City needed five hours to reach St. Ignace.

The Mackinac Bridge ended that. Designed by David B. Steinman, it runs 26,372 feet, just under five miles, with towers that rise 552 feet above the water. It cost $99.8 million, and the first toll was $3.25. It is still the longest two-tower suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere, and each year more than a thousand drivers who would rather not cross it themselves have someone from the Bridge Authority drive their car over.

The picture sets the bridge's two green towers against a deep blue sky of towering clouds, the roadway sweeping across the strait to the far shore. In the foreground a white lighthouse with a red lantern stands on a rocky, pine-covered point, a red-roofed keeper's house beside it. 'MICHIGAN' is set in tall cream capitals on a navy band at the bottom.