In Michigan History Magazine’s Mackinac Bridge 50 th Anniversary issue, Van D. Waits to get across the Straits at times spanned over a day on weekends and holidays! During the winter, crossing the Straits by ferry was treacherous. Ignace became overwhelmed with visitors waiting to get on ferries to cross the Straits. Congress and President Roosevelt dismissed the project, as the total projected cost was $35 million-much more than the government intended to spend on the project.Īs the economy improved in the ‘40s and ‘50s more people traveled to the UP because the Civilian Conservation Corp restored and improved thousands of acres of forests specifically to draw tourism dollars. Marie Evening News, in 1934, that a bridge between the Straits was a “wild fantasy of the imagination.” Despite opposition, Representative Prentiss Brown and Senator Arthur Vandenberg approached Congress, urging them to make the bridge across the Straits of Mackinac a public works project to help unemployed workers in the area. Republican Representative Mapes noted in the Sault Ste. Democrats urged the project on, but most Republicans thought the bridge was a waste of money. Later, during the Great Depression, a bridge over the Straits became a sticking point between Michigan Democrats and Republicans. People in Michigan recognized the need for a similar suspension style bridge connecting Michigan’s two peninsulas.

The history of the Mackinac Bridge goes all the way back to the 1880s when the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City was built.

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