How would you like to be driving along I-10 in Louisiana and come across this bridge? For some, it wouldn’t be a problem but for me . . just might be a problem.
Doesn’t look quite so scary from this angle but . . don’t let this picture fool you . . it’s very scary!
Not only would I not want to drive across that bridge but I don’t think I would even ride across that bridge with someone else driving.
Just to prove to you all that I’m nuts, this is the very bridge that I drove across at least twice a day from the time I was 15 years old until 1997, which was about 30 years! I grew up in the little town at the base of the west side of the bridge and I went to college and worked on the east side of the bridge. For many years, we only had the I-10 bridge so this was it . . if you wanted to get to Lake Charles, you crossed this bridge. At some point, probably in the 70’s, we got the 210 bridge which is still tall and has a big curve in it but it’s way better than this one.
My first car was a Mustang with a stick shift. Dad bought it for me on my 15th birthday but I didn’t know how to drive a stick shift. Having a Mustang fastback sitting in the driveway will give you the incentive to learn to drive a stick shift real quick. I can’t tell you how many times I sat on that bridge due to a wreck. Problem was . . if you’re going up the hill, and you have a stick shift, every time you let off the clutch to inch forward, your car wants to roll backwards. That was ok though. I had a Mustang and life was good!
Thank goodness snow and ice are extremely rare in that part of the country. It has happened (more ice than snow) and this bridge isn’t something you’d want to cross when there’s ice on it.
Can someone tell me why, until about 6 or 7 years ago, I never had a fear crossing bridges, and this one rates up there with some of the worst, and I crossed it a zillion times without a care in the world. Oh . . I had cares, alright but they were more along the lines of whether I had matching shoes and purse to wear with my next new outfit! Those were the days!
Kelly E. says
Judy I think you just need to get another classic fastback Mustang and all your fears will just melt away!!
~Kelly
pdudgeon says
i wonder if the person who designed the bridge also designed roller coaster rides on the side??
not sure i would like that bridge either.
Sandy says
I’m guessing that the EMDR didn’t work for you? I would avoid this bridge also, and I’ve crossed a lot of bridges in my life. LOL
Sandy
Nancy says
Just wondering WHY they designed the bridge like that? Were they trying to keep people out? At first look, I thought it was a drawbridge….
June says
Judy,
There are a lot of things I never used to be afraid of that now give me cold sweats and heart palpatations – flying, tunnels (we have 2 in Baltimore and I’ll do anything to avoid them), rides at the fair, ladders, and the list goes on. It’s crazy I know (you know too). When I figure it out I’ll let you know, and if you figure it out please let me know too!!
June
Diana Wilson says
I don’t like bridges either and that one looks downright SCARY! We can’t explain our fears Judy. It doesn’t define you though. You are a wonderful person. Everyone has something they are afraid of. Carry on sister!
Sue H says
DH and I each had a mustang when we got married in 1971. Our oldest son was so disappointed when he found that out. He thought we should have saved one for him (he was born in 1973). DH’s had a stick shift, and I remember being on an icy hill that still makes me shudder when I think of it today! Knock on wood, but bridges don’t bother me. Good thing, because we winter on Mustang Island, close to Corpus Christi! A series of bridges is what connects us to two quilt shops, JoAnn, Michaels, and a great Hobby Lobby!
Sue H says
And a footnote: we live about 25 miles away from the Minneapolis 35W bridge that collapsed a year ago, and they are very close to finishing the new bridge!
Julie says
Oh goodness! I think that bridge wants to be a roller coaster! I wouldn’t want to cross that one either!
Thanks for the email, I havne’t had time to read and reply to my messages yet, but will soon!
Theresa says
We crossed a bridge similar to that coming out of Canada into Michigan. My 16 year old son was driving and my DH was in the backseat going crazy. He doesn’t like heights and having our son driving in bumper to bumper traffic crossing the bridge was almost more than he could take. We still laugh about it, all these years later!
Vicky says
I knew that bridge the moment I saw it! Funny thing – the Prien Lake bridge bothers me more than this one! LOL
KC says
I can remember my mom being in her 50’s and I was a teenager when she got so she hated driving on hill (we lived in the S. tier of NY state, which is just all hills!). She loved to go for rides(she was driving as I wasn’t old enough -yet) out on the back roads and she had to BACK UP the road as it was kinda steep and she couldn’t drive down it!!
Now I think twice about bridges too…must be the hormones !
Karen
Sandy says
Judy, You are a person who likes to be in control of your life. That’s a good thing! When we are on those gosh awful long and tall bridges we are at the mercy of something out of our control. I love to go to Paducah but those two bridges that we have to cross give me the willies and I’m not normally afraid of bridges. You are not alone! Sandra in Oklahoma.
Kim says
Ok, I am going to be in the minority here. I LOVE that bridge! We used to cross it going to my grandma’s house when I was little. We lived near Houston, and she lived in Baton Rouge. I always looked forward to that bridge and asked to be woken up if I was asleep to cross it. I drove it a couple of times when I was older, and the first time I was a little scared, but it quickly faded. Thanks for the memories of the bridge and the trips to Baton Rouge.
Sheila says
That bridge looks positively frightening in the first pic; I probably wouldn’t get on it either. Not long before I left north Dallas, they finished the “High 5,” a 5-tiered freeway system near my home. I got on the top tier only once, thinking ‘it can’t be that bad.’ Never again.. I would rather drive miles out of my way.
I agree with Sandy’s comment (above) that it’s the lack of control that drives the fear… that and the fear of falling (for me). I haven’t been able to fly for years, but I used to all the time. Another thing that gives me the willies is being stuck in traffic on an overpass or bridge with a truck, believing that the weight of the truck is going to kill us all when the bridge collapses. Likewise for the bounce they create when they are moving and I’m sitting still in my car.
Whatever happened to the bridge whisperer someone was going to hook you up with? A reader’s husband maybe??? A while back.
Teresa says
I just love your blog and look forward to reading it every day. Thanks for sharing so much of yourself with us.
I have always liked bridges until a couple of summers ago when my husband and I crossed over the Cheseapeake Bay. Now going across the bay from Va to Ma was not a problem. That bridge is 23 miles long and includes two underwater tunnels, but it was so interesting, I loved it. But crossing back over the Bay onto mainland Maryland just about did me in. I was taking my turn driving and if I had known then what I know now, I would not have driven across that bridge. It went way up in the air…I swear we were above the clouds. Cars going fast, and I was having a panic attack. Never ever again will I cross that bridge!!
Karen L says
I can’t resist this…….next time Judy when you need to do a bridge……just make sure the shoes and purse match the clothes you are wearing and have a manicure the day before just to be on the safe side…..you’ll do fine then!!!!
Karen
Nancy W. says
My mothers family all lived on farms on the Ohio river in western Kentucky. There was a road that ended in a boat ramp on the river and of course when I was small someone drove into the river. Because of that lovely story, I have never liked to be in a car near water…. and that includes bridges. The bridge you have pictured here is rather scary. I would have trouble with it. The reason I haven’t joined the quilt guild in Owensboro is because I would have to cross the bridge to get there and I just didn’t want to go that bad. I get the bridge thing!
Martha says
I know a man who had a bee fly up his nose while he was riding on a motorcycle over that I10 bridge. I can’t imagine what he went through to drive down in his bee-stung nose agony.
CJ says
That’s a very cool bridge, I’ve never seen one like that!
My mom is afraid of bridges like you are Judy… I love them, I always feel like I’m floating across the water!
Pat says
Oh Judy I remember driving over the bridges on our way to Houston for Fall Quilt market…I was afraid my booth was going to slide out the back of the SUV…I hate bridges!!
Mustang huh? Sounds like too much fun…Keep a grip on the clutch!
Pat
Elizabeth says
Judy I go through Moss Bluff just so I don’t have to drive over that bridge. I did have to go over the I-210 bridge today on the way to the, “Quilt Shoppe” in Westlake.
laurie says
I can understand the bridge thing. I choose how to get around Houston by the overpasses. I know which ones to avoid. My kids think it’s a hoot and when I have to go over one they are always saying things like, ‘look down there mom’, or ‘Wow! did you see that?( pointing down)’ I studiously keep my eyes straight ahead.
Mary Ann says
Oh boy, this bridge makes me anxious just looking at the picture. Recently I went to pick up a new sewing machine and took a wrong turn. When I reached the dam I knew I was going in the wrong direction. A kind gentleman tried to help me by saying that I was on the wrong side of the river and just needed to drive over the dam. I told him I didn’t do bridges – there was no way I was going to go over the dam on a single lane road. Needless to say I had to backtrack for miles to get on the other side. When I was younger, bridges were never a problem. Can’t explain why they are now.
Sally Bramald says
Not just you, I’ve developed the same fear and we’ve bought a cottage which requires going over a really nasty bridge to get to it.
I make a 7 mile detour to go over the newer bridge which although it’s longer (and higher) has better side rails so I don’t feel like I’m going off the edge. If my DH is driving I’m OK with my eyes closed.
I did a parachute jump to over come my fear of heights. Duh! Let’s just say it didn’t work….