Bluewater

St. Clair-Bluewater

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Bluewater

The Blue Water Bridge spans the mouth of the St. Clair River between Port Huron and Sarnia, and just beyond it to the north is Lake Huron, the world's fifth-largest lake, with a surface area of 23,000 miles (nearly as great as that of West Virginia) and maximum depth of 750 feet.

The first bridge, a cantilever truss, opened in 1938. The second, a continuous tied arch, which we see foremost in the picture, was completed in 1997. Both bridges stretch more than 6000 feet and the main spans are 871 and 922 feet, respectively. Six lanes in all conduct traffic at this busy international border.

A plaque near the lightship Huron tells the story of this 97-foot vessel that used to moor at the Corsica Shoals of southern Lake Huron, where the beam from her acetylene lantern and the blasts from her foghorn warned away lake freighters. (A lightship was more reliable than the gas-light buoys of the 19th century.) The Huron was decommissioned in 1970, ending 50 years of service, and is now a museum in Pine Grove Park, just downriver from the Blue Water Bridge.

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