You drive across two Great Lakes at once on this Michigan bridge and it takes five minutes

It’s Where Two Great Lakes Collide

You drive across the Straits of Mackinac, and two Great Lakes spread out on either side of you. Lake Michigan to the west, Lake Huron to the east, and nothing but steel cables and open sky above.

The Mackinac Bridge (say “Mackinaw”) runs 26,372 feet across that water, just 28 feet short of a full five miles.

It’s the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere, and it’s the only road connecting Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.

The drive takes about five minutes, but the Straits area around it can hold you for days.

Ferries once backed up traffic for 16 miles

Before the bridge, you crossed on a state-run ferry. Michigan started running them in 1923, and at peak times, the backup stretched 16 miles.

People talked about building a bridge as far back as the 1880s, right after the Brooklyn Bridge went up in New York. Decades of failed proposals came and went before engineer David B. Steinman finally drew up the design.

Crews broke ground in May 1954. Three and a half years and about $100 million later, the bridge opened to traffic on Nov. 1, 1957.

Two towers stand 552 feet above the water

The two main towers rise 552 feet over the Straits, and the suspension span between them stretches 3,800 feet. Down below, the bridge foundations reach 210 feet beneath the surface to hold against winter ice.

The main cables contain about 42,000 miles of wire, enough to wrap around the Earth almost twice. Five workers died during construction.

And despite what you might hear from locals, none of them are buried in the bridge’s concrete. That’s a legend, not a fact.

Steinman designed it to sway 35 feet in the wind

The 1940 collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge changed everything about suspension bridge design.

Steinman built the Mackinac deck with open spaces on either side of the roadway and a steel grid surface that lets wind pass right through. In strong gusts, the center of the deck can shift up to 35 feet side to side.

That movement is on purpose. During construction in November 1955, a 76 mph gale hit the incomplete structure, and it held.

The bridge ranks among the strongest suspension bridges ever built.

Four million cars cross it every year

About 4 million vehicles roll across the bridge each year.

The toll runs $4 per passenger vehicle, and you can pay by cash, card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or MacPass. Credit and debit cards carry a 2.3 percent convenience fee.

If you grab a MacPass and make a round trip within 36 hours, the return crossing is free. The speed limit sits at 45 mph the whole way across, and you cannot stop or turn around once you’re on it.

Someone else will drive your car across for $10

Not everyone loves driving five miles over open water.

The Mackinac Bridge Authority runs a Driver Assistance Program for anyone who’d rather sit in the passenger seat. A trained staff member hops in and drives your vehicle across for $10 plus the regular toll.

The service runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long. Over 1,000 people use it every year, and you can request it right at the toll booth.

No appointment, no judgment.

Walk all five miles every Labor Day for free

Every Labor Day, the bridge shuts down to cars from 6:30 a.m. to noon. That’s the only day of the year you can walk across.

The tradition started in 1958 when Gov. G. Mennen Williams led 68 people from one side to the other. It has run every year since, with 2020 as the only exception.

About 33,000 people showed up for the 2025 walk. It costs nothing and you don’t need to register.

Just show up and start walking.

Tune your AM radio to 530 while you cross

Straits State Park in St. Ignace covers 181 acres along the Lake Huron shoreline, and its observation platforms put the bridge right in front of you. Bridge View Park, also in St. Ignace, gets you even closer.

Over in Mackinaw City, the Headlands International Dark Sky Park stays open year-round for stargazing along Lake Michigan.

And here’s a good one: tune your AM radio to 530 or 1610 while you drive across, and a broadcast fills you in on the bridge’s history and current conditions.

A French fort still stands right under the bridge

Colonial Michilimackinac sits directly beneath the Mackinac Bridge in Mackinaw City.

This reconstructed 18th-century French fort and fur trading village dates back to about 1715, and the French and British both held it until 1781.

Costumed interpreters fire cannons and muskets, cook over open hearths, and demonstrate colonial-era crafts. The site also hosts one of the longest-running archaeological digs in North America, going since 1959.

You can visit from May through early October.

Mackinac Island banned cars and never looked back

Mackinac Island sits out in the Straits, and the only way to reach it is by ferry from Mackinaw City or St. Ignace. The ride takes 15 to 25 minutes.

Once you land, there are no cars. You get around by bicycle, horse-drawn carriage, or your own two feet.

The 8.2-mile shoreline loop road, M-185, is the only state highway in America that bans motor vehicles. Mackinac Island State Park covers about 80 percent of the island and became Michigan’s first state park in 1895.

Arch Rock rises 146 feet above Lake Huron

Fort Mackinac sits on a bluff above the harbor. The British built it in 1780 during the American Revolution, and it stands as one of the best-preserved military forts in the country.

Arch Rock, a natural limestone formation, rises 146 feet above Lake Huron and spans about 50 feet across. Sugar Loaf, a 75-foot limestone stack, sits deeper in the island’s interior.

Fort Holmes marks the highest point and gives you 360-degree views of the island, the bridge and the Straits.

Fudge shops line the main street for a reason

The island is famous for its handmade fudge, and the shops line up one after another along the main street. Between bites, you can kayak the shoreline, take a horse-drawn carriage tour, or bike the island’s trails.

Most hotels, restaurants and attractions in the Straits area run from May through October. A Big Mac Shoreline bike tour opens the bridge to cyclists in June and September.

And here’s a fact that keeps the paint crews busy: the bridge’s painting cycle takes seven years to finish, and then it starts all over again.

Explore the Mackinac Bridge and Straits in Michigan

You can start your trip from either end. The bridge connects Mackinaw City on the south to St. Ignace on the north.

Mackinac Island ferries leave from both towns. Colonial Michilimackinac, Straits State Park and the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse all sit within minutes of the bridge.

The toll is $4 per car, and the bridge is open 24 hours a day, year-round.

Check the official website for current conditions and Driver Assistance Program details before you head out.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• On Mackinac Island, Michigan, no one has started a car engine in over a century
• Mackinac Island: come for the fudge, stay for the 19th-century medical horror story
• Mackinac Island’s highest point tells the story of a Virginia major’s fatal gamble during the War of 1812