{"id":1515,"date":"2010-05-05T03:11:13","date_gmt":"2010-05-04T18:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-05-05\/1515"},"modified":"2010-05-05T03:11:13","modified_gmt":"2010-05-04T18:11:13","slug":"akashi-straights-bridge-longest-parking-lot-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-05-05\/1515","title":{"rendered":"Akashi Straights Bridge: Longest Parking Lot in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: 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.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 14 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSupport<\/span>\nhalf of the entire weight of the world's longest suspension bridge is borne by this tower\n300m-tall Tower of the Akashi Straights Bridge, Kobe Japan\n<\/div>\n\n

Japan's Golden Week<\/a>\nholidays end tomorrow, so tonight roads and highways across the nation are jammed with\npeople returning from vacations. News reports of 50-mile backups on major\nexpressways are not uncommon. Unfun.<\/p>\n\n

We avoided all the traffic by having our mini vacation on Awaji\nIsland<\/a> early, so the roads were empty both going and returning.<\/p>\n\n

On the way there, we crossed the Akashi\nStraights Bridge<\/a> (\u660e\u77f3\u6d77\u5ce1\u5927\u6a4b)<\/span> — the world's longest suspension\nbridge, though tonight it's the world's longest parking lot — and\nwhile crossing it, I stuck<\/span> the camera out the window for some\nflying(driving)-blind shots.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 14 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nApproach<\/span>\n( last shot through the windshield before sticking the camera outside )<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 14 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTwo Towers<\/span>\n1¼ miles apart\n(That's the “central span”; the whole bridge is 2½ miles long)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I wrote about this bridge on my “Heavy Lifting: Supporting the\nLongest Suspension Bridge in the World<\/a>” post, which gives details\nabout the two massive cables that support the bridge.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWeakest Link<\/span>\nbetter be damn strong\n<\/div>\n\n

This is a suspension<\/i> bridge, so the entire road deck — the\nthick layer of concrete and asphalt and girders, and all the traffic\n— are suspended in mid air by the many vertical cables hanging from\nthe two big cables. If the two<\/span> big cables were to break, or come loose from their\nmoorings on either side, the whole bridge would collapse.<\/p>\n\n

The two cables are draped across the two towers, so the entire weight of\nthe bridge and its traffic are concentrated onto those two very tall (300m\nabove the water) points.<\/p>\n\n

But, of course, those driving across don't think of any of that amazing\nengineering. They're probably thinking of what they're going to do on the\nother side... perhaps a Ferris wheel ride<\/a>, or a\nvisit<\/span> to a flowery<\/span>\npark<\/a>. I thought<\/span> of those things too, but mostly, I marveled.<\/span><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>

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

On the way there, we crossed the Akashi Straights Bridge (\u660e\u77f3\u6d77\u5ce1\u5927\u6a4b) -- 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.<\/p>

I wrote about [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}