In January 1953, David Barnard Steinman was chosen to design the Mackinac Bridge, but estimates and contracts were ignored. They were ignored, but a Civil Engineer with the name of Abul Hasnat did the estimates and it was going to be 95 million dollars, so they had to turn the bridge into a toll bridge for the next two decades.

Construction had begun on May 7, in 1954. It took about three and a half years. They did not work in the winter, but for four summers they had gotten most of the money from the American Bridge Division of The United States Steel Corporation. They were awarded a contract of 44 million dollars to pay for all of the steel used in construction.

     The total cost was $100 million dollars. Five lives were lost to the bridge. The bridge was still open to traffic, but not to ferries. The bridge was formally dedicated on June 25, 1958. The governor, Gerhard Mennen Williams, did a ceremony where he would lead the march across the Mackinac Bridge. 

On June 25, 1998, exactly forty years after it’s dedication, the bridge it had its 100 millionth crossing on November 1, 2007, they also they had the 50th anniversary of the opening. There was a ceremony with the Mackinac Bridge Authority at the viewing park across from the St. Ignace causeway. 

Now some facts, the Mackinac Bridge is twenty-eight feet short of five miles and stretches from the upper peninsula of Michigan crossing over Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Many people cross this bridge to get to a boat so they can go to Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. Engineers are the reason that the design of the bridge had to be formed by 4,000 drawings and 85,000 blueprints.