There Have Been 19 Reported Deaths Involving the Mackinac Bridge

Since the building of the Mackinac Bridge that have been 19 reported deaths involving the bridge in one way or another.

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Deaths and the Mackinac Bridge

There have long been rumors that workers building the Mackinac Bridge fell into the concrete supports and were cemented into them for life. Those rumors are not true, there are no workers cemented into the bridge supports.

Even though there were no workers cemented into the supports when building the Mackinac Bridge doesn't mean there were no deaths. There were 5 workers that did lose their lives during the building of the iconic bridge but some of them may not have died how you would imagine.

One worker who died while the Mackinac Bridge was being built was killed in a driving accident that had nothing to do with the bridge. One worker fell only a few feet into the water but couldn't swim and wound up drowning. One worker passed away when he fell off the bridge while welding. Two men fell from a temporary catwalk that was near the top of the north tower but only one of those bodies was ever found. Both of these men fell 550 feet and at that height hitting the water is like hitting the ground.

There have been at least a dozen suicides that have been reported from 1957 to 2013 of people jumping off the Mighty Mac. Two vehicles have driven off the bridge with both drivers losing their lives. One vehicle drove off on purpose and the other was speeding and lost control and jumped the guardrail to his death.

Another death was reported in 1997 when a man who was painting the Mackinac Bridge fell from his platform but it wasn't the fall that killed him, it was his inability to swim so he wound up drowning in the Straits of Mackinac.

One more accident claimed three lives in 1978 when a small plane flew into the cables during a heavy fog. Yes, there have been many deaths associated with the Mackinac Bridge but not everyone who fell off the bridge lost their life.