NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm — ¹/4000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Support
half of the entire weight of the world's longest suspension bridge is borne by this tower
300m-tall Tower of the Akashi Straights Bridge, Kobe Japan

Japan's Golden Week holidays end tomorrow, so tonight roads and highways across the nation are jammed with people returning from vacations. News reports of 50-mile backups on major expressways are not uncommon. Unfun.

We avoided all the traffic by having our mini vacation on Awaji Island early, so the roads were empty both going and returning.

On the way there, we crossed the Akashi Straights Bridge (明石海峡大橋) — the world's longest suspension bridge, though tonight it's the world's longest parking lot — and while crossing it, I stuck the camera out the window for some flying(driving)-blind shots.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Approach
( last shot through the windshield before sticking the camera outside )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm — ¹/4000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Two Towers
1¼ miles apart
(That's the “central span”; the whole bridge is 2½ miles long)

I wrote about this bridge on my “Heavy Lifting: Supporting the Longest Suspension Bridge in the World” post, which gives details about the two massive cables that support the bridge.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Weakest Link
better be damn strong

This is a suspension bridge, so the entire road deck — the thick layer of concrete and asphalt and girders, and all the traffic — are suspended in mid air by the many vertical cables hanging from the two big cables. If the two big cables were to break, or come loose from their moorings on either side, the whole bridge would collapse.

The two cables are draped across the two towers, so the entire weight of the bridge and its traffic are concentrated onto those two very tall (300m above the water) points.

But, of course, those driving across don't think of any of that amazing engineering. They're probably thinking of what they're going to do on the other side... perhaps a Ferris wheel ride, or a visit to a flowery park. I thought of those things too, but mostly, I marveled.