THE TACOMA NARROWS BRIDGE COLLAPSE

Episode 213 | Historical Events

In this History episode we focus on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge — the third-longest suspension bridge in the world when it opened in July 1940, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie" for the oscillations visible from its first night in service, and a pile of wreckage on the bottom of Puget Sound 129 days later. Professor F. Bert Farquharson, hired to fix the movement, watched twisting motions in his wind tunnel models and said if that ever happened on the real bridge it would be the end of the bridge. He was standing on the bridge on November 7th, 1940 when it happened exactly as he'd described.

We examine the engineering theory that failed — not resonance as physics textbooks taught for decades, but torsional flutter — and what the collapse meant for bridge design globally. Wind tunnel testing became mandatory. The US government now requires aerodynamic analysis for all federally funded bridges. The wreck is still on the bottom of Puget Sound, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The replacement bridge, built with the aerodynamic lessons of the disaster, is still carrying 90,000 vehicles a day.

This podcast features narration with a synthetic AI voice.

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