Notes:

• Became longest suspension bridge by eclipsing 1926 Benjamin Franklin (Philadelphia-Camden) - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey, USA.
• Eclipsed by new longest suspension bridge 1931 George Washington (GWB) - New York, New York and Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.

External Links:

• Bridgehunter.com | Ambassador Bridge
• Structurae - Structure ID 20000532

Image Sets:

Notes:

• Reconstructed, 1968, but appears to have retained its original appearance. Improvements made, 2009.
• Tom Haapoja provided information about this bridge. His father worked on its construction: "Built in 1938-39. They had a sawmill on site from which they took 'select' lumber for the bridge and boat docking area. I think the sawmill was located on the present-day parking lot. Each anchor for the suspension cables consisted of 44 tons of concrete. The concrete was transported to the forms via wheelbarrows. The construction of the East anchor was difficult because the wheelbarrows travelled uphill, and each were pushed by one man and pulled by another."
  
  "It was a WPA and CCC effort. The CCC Camp discipline and logistics were provided by the US Army, but the construction supervision was provided by the WPA. About 200 Men from the Norrie CCC camp (Ironwood, Michigan) participated in the construction of the bridge and surrounding park. They worked during the cold of winter and rode to and from Camp Norrie in open trucks. Each trip took 1 1/2 hours. The architect of the bridge was 'Oakey' Johnson. The WPA construction foreman was 'Charlie' Johnson."

Image Sets:

External Links:

• Structurae - Structure ID 20000141

Image Sets:

Annotated Citations:

• Walters, Alex. "MSU’s Hidden Lake Gardens hopes to be found with new canopy walk." The State News, 13 Dec 2022, https://statenews.com/article/2022/12/msus-hidden-lake-gardens-hopes-to-be-found-with-an-ambitious-new-attraction
  

  "Since Oct. 2017, they have been designing, funding, and building a suspension bridge hanging off of a 70 foot central tower. The bridge, an idea sparked by a frequent hiker, runs over a valley, giving visitors an up-close view of the trees without the climb."

• Graham, Lester. "Suspension bridge through the tree tops could attract more visitors to an MSU hidden gem." Michigan Radio, 20 Oct. 2022, https://www.michiganradio.org/environment-climate-change/2022-10-20/suspension-bridge-through-the-tree-tops-could-attract-more-visitors-to-an-msu-hidden-gem
  

  "Oates says there was a perfect site [for the bridge] at Hidden Lake Gardens. There’s this sort of bowl-shaped valley. It’s called a kettle hole, a deep depression caused by a chunk of glacier falling off. The 700 foot bridge spans that ‘kettle hole’ valley."

External Links:

• YouTube - HLG Canopy Walk Bridge Animation

Image Sets:

Image Sets:

Image Sets:

External Links:

• Hike This Gorgeous Suspension Bridge Trail In Jenison Michigan - onlyinyourstate.com

Notes:

• Near (footbridge) - Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, USA.

Notes:

• Near (footbridge) - Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, USA.

Image Sets:

Notes:

• One of several Michigan suspension footbridges nicknamed "Little Mac".
• Stephen Quintana writes: "One of my first projects was to be the inspector on the construction of this bridge. This was somewhere between 1994 and 1996. I remember the contractor's only experience with any Forest Service projects was installing some toilets for us. He had never done anything like this before. I wasn't on the job site the day he pulled the cables across the river, so I asked him how he did it. He said he used a fishing pole with a small weight and cast it across the river. Then he used that to pull a larger rope, then a much larger rope, then finally the cables. I thought they did a pretty good job on this bridge. I remember the cost was somewhere around $100,000 for this project."
• 2024, November: Closed for refurbishment.
• 2025, March: The bridge is reopened, March 11 despite ongoing repair work.

External Links:

• The Herald Review - Manistee National Forest suspension bridge reopens, under construction. The bridge is reopened despite continuing refurbishment. "The bridge work included new galvanized hardware, decking, railing, curbing, galvanized paint on hard-to-reach components, needle beams, which support the bridge from the main cable, as well as a few new stringers."
• USDA Forest Service - Delayed Manistee River Suspension Bridge Maintenance Begins. Article dated November 8, 2024 regarding start of extensive refurbishment of the bridge: "Bridge upgrades include new galvanized hardware, decking, railing, curbing, galvanized paint on hard-to-reach components, needle beams, which support the bridge from the main cable, as well as new stringers."

Image Sets:

Image Sets:

Image Sets:

Image Sets:

Notes:

• Crossed one of the narrow waterways among the Newaygo Lakes area just north of Newaygo.

Image Sets: