This Future Map Of The United States Is Way Cooler Than Any Current Map Of The United States

[amandabeech]

178. It would be great for UP tourism, although it is so beautiful in northern lower Michigan

Last edited Tue Feb 12, 2013, 06:24 PM - Edit history (1)

and the UP, I don't think that a high speed rail line through there would necessarily be the best idea!

There has always been rail congestion around Chicago, and now, of course, vehicle traffic on that spaghetti of interstates is hellacious, too.

In the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s, a system of railroads car ferries carried railroad cars, people, and then regular autos across Lake Michigan. Starting with Chicago and moving clockwise, Chicago, Milwaukee, Sheboygan (WI), Kewaunee (WI), Green Bay (most service went through Kewaunee--you can see why on a map), Escanaba, Manistique, Frankfurt, Manistee, Ludington, Muskegon, Saugatuck and I think South Haven ( all in Michigan).

The most modern of the ferries carried 30 railroad cars. Nowadays, trains consist of at least 90 trains. Many of the harbors on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan cannot take deep draft vessels (Muskegon is by far the best harbor), so even today, it would take multiple vessels to carry one train of cars, if anyone was interested in restarting the service.

Today, only one of the old railroad car ferries still plies Lake Michigan. It is the Badger, which sails out of Ludington to Kewaunee twice a day from late April or May through September or early October. Ludington is a really nice beach town these days, because, unfortunately, most of the manufacturing is gone.

Badger is so large despite its relatively shallow draft that it can carry at least one tractor trailer and a bunch of Winnebagos in addition to the usual SUVs, cars and bicycles. A big highlight of the day in Ludington is to go down to the ferry dock and watch Badger come in, unload, load up, and steam back out of the harbor and across the Lake.

Unfortunately, Badger is a coal-fired piston driven ship. It belches coal smoke, and there are people, mostly out of town and in the thrall of its competitor, a high speed catamaran ferry that runs from Muskegon to Milwaukee. Right now, Badger has an EPA exception as an historical vessel. I hope that it continues to run.

On edit: I'm not so sure about how easy it would be to build a railroad bridge across the Straights of Mackinac. I read a book about building the current bridge in the 1950s. For those of you readers who have never seen it, it is a double tower suspension bridge over the spot where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet at the tip of the Michigan mitten. It's longer than the Golden Gate, and is very attractive, especially in the summer when it is lit.

Anyway, several lives were lost building the Mackinac bridge and it took quite a bit of time. The weather is atrocious for 8 months out of the year, and the waters beneath the bridge are very cold and turbulent. Ice flows are a problem in most winters.

Any railroad bridge would have to be built at one of the less desirable locations, which would make it longer, and the bridge would have to be made much stronger for rail traffic.

I'm sure it could be done and would not be as dangerous to build as the original bridge. However, I think that it would still be difficult and very expensive.