Greedy Gertie Opening
On July 15th 2007, the third Tacoma Narrows Bridge had it's grand opening.
The bridge was opened to traffic (without the tolls) the following Monday, Saturday would be the day where the bridge would be closed to traffic and the public would walk across the bridge.
The original vehicle that crossed Galloping and Sturdy Gertie would be on the bridge to pay the first toll.
Engineers were on hand to explain the differences in the new bridge design which is very different than the bridge standing next to it.
Like the 50th anniversary of Galloping Gertie,the bridge was used to do a run as well.
While the new bridge was opening, Sturdy Gertie was going through some upgrade and paint.
The older bridge was going through some seismic retrofit upgrades while transitioning to a bridge that would only take traffic in one direction rather than two as well as a paint job.
Many of the photos are in the Sturdy Gertie section of the website.