Another ominous iron dinosaur comes to life…

It happened a few days ago, on June the 28^th, 2025. As the sun rose that morning, its golden rays illuminated the gigantic skeletal form that stretched out across the harbor. Two enormous spinal processes dominated the horizon, visible from far away. Between them were slung double rows of robust tendons, meeting in the center at the apex of the monster’s lengthy spine. Later that morning, a cadre of officials would meet near that vantage point over 200 feet above the river. During the ceremony, a procession of vehicles would make the first transit across the epic beast that lords over the waterway. This would mark the beginning of its working life, which is projected to last over 100 years.

When the sun came up that morning, it dawned upon yet another completed addition to a growing collection of sinister looking infrastructure monstrosities spreading across the country. This new cable stayed bridge is located in Texas, at the harbor in Corpus Christi. It seems that these sorts of bridges are proliferating at steady pace, and in a few years, there will be yet another one here in Baltimore. The original harbor bridge wasn’t accidentally destroyed like the Key Bridge, but rather it was replaced because it was old and lacked the height necessary for large ships to enter the harbor. It was reminiscent of the Key Bridge, being of the typical 20^th century thru truss style, though in smaller scale. As I will explain in detail in a later entry, that style of bridge was imported from Europe starting in the late 1970’s. While there were a few bridges that had some cable stayed elements (like the Brooklyn Bridge) or were in rudimentary form, it wasn’t until the early 1980’s that they begin to appear in their present form. It seems as though steel truss, and to a degree, suspension bridges, are vanishing, although these types are still built in some other countries. The main reason that those kinds are rarely built is because they are more costly and they require more steel. The cable stayed bridge is the economy bridge of this age, which is quite a contrast to claims that modern ones will last more than a century. The old adage of “getting what you pay for” is also true in this case. The new Texas monster is made of concrete sections that are said to be able to endure for 175 years, which is its projected lifespan. I call BS on that! But long before then the monster’s towers will have begun to crumble away. Imagine that a car’s transmission and engine lasting 30 years, but long before then the undercarriage rusts out and the body begins to fall apart…But of course, one can keep a car in a garage and drive it very little, blunting the effects of wear and tear over time. A bridge, by comparison, is always exposed to weather, sunlight, heat, cold, wind and whatever else mother nature can throw at it. And then there’s the constant strain of endless traffic. I’d say this bridge will be doing well if it lasts 75 years! 

But there’s another thing about these bridges that’s purely subjective on my part. And that has everything to do with their appearance. When I first stumbled across one (in a very literal sense, as I was heading south for Savannah, Georgia) I was dumbfounded. It blew my mind when it appeared on the horizon, looking nothing at all like the familiar Bay Bridge and Key Bridge. I took several pictures of that bizarre bridge that spans the Savannah River while I was there. I wanted so badly to go back and drive over it again to get a close up look but I didn’t because my mom freaked out when we first crossed it. My curiosity had been piqued big time, but I just chalked the appearance of the Talmadge Memorial Bridge up to it being an outlier. I figured the state (and possibly the town of Savannah) had hired some “avant guard” architecture firm to design it in order to make some sort of statement. In other words, in my mind it was an anomaly. But little did I know there were lots of others of its kind out there…and soon, there will be one here in Baltimore.

There is something about cable stayed bridges that I don’t like, but on the other hand, they fascinate me. I was in part both drawn to – and repelled by – the Savannah bridge. I was drawn in because it was so unusual, but freaked out because of that odd appearance. I suppose I regard this sort of bridge in the way many people see snakes in that fascination, fear and repulsion go hand in hand. And naturally, there are people who are terrified of snakes like no other thing. I wonder if people who fear crossing bridges would be more afraid of a cable stayed bridge because they look flimsy? At least the Key Bridge looked sturdy, with its arched truss comprised of heavy steel girders perched atop of massive piers. By contrast, the average cable stayed bridge (like the Tampa terror) looks as though it might fall over in a stiff breeze. The other appearance problem is, as I made in my photo comparison, an uncanny resemblance to something organic. Something that was once alive; these are the remains of a great and terrible beast. But these beasts are man-made, and rise high above nature, dominating their (usually) watery habitat. So we have an uncanny melding of organic and nature inspired features with that which has been designed and built by human kind. I suppose it is that juxtaposition that I find unnerving. The Key Bridge, the Bay Bridge and all of their ilk are very industrial in appearance and are rather unlike much of anything found in nature. The cable stayed bridge more closely mimics nature, with the spine of an animal complete with tall vertebral spines slung taut with steel “tendons”. And what would be the spinal column of the beast is also pulled tight by another set of steel tendons that are hidden within the deck structure. This is very similar to the way that the ligaments and tendons bind each vertebra to its neighbor in an animal’s spine. By contrast, the Bay Bridge is held together with a rigid framework of struts and supported in the center by cables slung over each tower and bound to the ground on either end. It is held up in perhaps more like the way a circus tent would be supported than like the body of a quadrupedal animal.

I think the above is the key to why I find cable stayed bridges to be unsettling, ominous and even creepy looking. While it’s true the Key Bridge did have a sort of creepiness to it, in no way could it compare with the Sunshine Skyway. Also, the Key Bridge’s sinister aspect came about for me because of my brief history with it, and its own grisly past. It did have somewhat of a “hump backed” appearance, reminiscent in a way of some sort of creature standing there in the water. But this effect was far less extreme than with the Skyway and its creepy ilk. In a few years a new steel and concrete dinosaur will rise up out of the Patapsco River and loom high on the horizon, its fearsome towers exceeding the height of Baltimore’s tallest skyscraper. And when it begins to take shape, its sinister form will beckon me down to the river’s edge to look upon it. Then, once it is complete and open to traffic, I will face the new monster from behind the wheel and transit its fearsome form. And if they put a walking path on it, I’ll actually be able to stand upon its deck! That is a day I look forward to immensely.