Editing Tacoma Narrows Bridge (section)

==Original bridge (1940)==
{{multiple image
| align     = left
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| header    =
| image1    = Opening day of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Tacoma, Washington.jpg
| width1    = 220
| alt1      = Opening day of narrow bridge, July 1
| caption1  = Opening day, July 1, 1940
| image2    =
| width2    = 220
| alt2      = Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsing, captured in 16 mm [[Kodachrome]] motion picture film. The view looks west
| caption2  = Collapse, looking west, November 7, 1940
}}
{{Main|Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)}}

The desire for the construction of a bridge in this location dates back to 1889 with a [[Northern Pacific Railway]] proposal for a trestle bridge; however, it was only in the late 1920s that interest in this project was revived.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mitanis |first=Marc |date=20 April 2017 |title=The Great Engineering Failure of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge {{!}} SkyriseCities |url=https://skyrisecities.com/news/2017/04/great-engineering-failure-tacoma-narrows-bridge.26420 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418060902/https://skyrisecities.com/news/2017/04/great-engineering-failure-tacoma-narrows-bridge.26420 |archive-date=18 April 2024 |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=skyrisecities.com}}</ref> In 1937, the Washington State legislature created the Washington State Toll Bridge Authority and appropriated $5,000 to study the request by Tacoma and [[Pierce County, Washington|Pierce County]] for a bridge over the Narrows. The bridge was designed by [[Leon Moisseiff]] and cost $6.4 million.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Michelson |first=Alan |title=PCAD - State of Washington, Highway Department, Tacoma Narrows Bridge #1, Tacoma, WA |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/3319/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418061709/https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/3319/ |archive-date=18 April 2024 |access-date=2021-12-07 |website=pcad.lib.washington.edu}}</ref>
[[File: The collapse of the Tacoma Bridge.ogv|thumb|267x267px|The collapse of the original bridge.]]
The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1940. Its main span collapsed into the Tacoma Narrows four months later on November 7, 1940, at 11:00&nbsp;a.m. (Pacific time) possibly as a result of [[aeroelasticity#Flutter|aeroelastic flutter]] caused by a {{convert|42|mph|adj=on|abbr=on}} wind. The bridge collapse had lasting effects on science and engineering. In many undergraduate physics texts, the event is presented as an example of elementary forced [[resonance]], with the wind providing an external periodic frequency that matched the natural structural frequency;<ref name="BillahScanlan91"/> the cause is still debated by engineers today. A contributing factor was its solid sides which did not allow wind to pass through the bridge's deck. Thus, its design allowed the bridge to catch the wind and sway, which ultimately took it down.<ref name="BillahScanlan91">{{cite journal|last=Billah|first=K.|author2=R. Scanlan |author-link2=Robert H. Scanlan |year=1991|title=Resonance, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Failure, and Undergraduate Physics Textbooks|journal=[[American Journal of Physics]]|volume=59|issue=2|pages=118–124|url=https://www.ketchum.org/billah/Billah-Scanlan.pdf|doi=10.1119/1.16590|bibcode=1991AmJPh..59..118B}}</ref> It was the first suspension bridge to utilize these solid I-beams as a form of support for the road deck, as other bridges would incorporate trusses in their designs in order to catch the wind.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=von Kármán|first=Theodore|date=August 2005|title=Collapse of the tacoma narrows bridge|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf02866750|journal=Resonance|volume=10|issue=8|pages=97–102|doi=10.1007/bf02866750|s2cid=120498720 |issn=0971-8044}}</ref> Its failure also boosted research in the field of bridge aerodynamics and aeroelastic fields which have influenced the designs of all the world's great long-span bridges built since 1940.

There were no human deaths in the collapse of the bridge. The only fatality was a [[Cocker Spaniel]] named Tubby, who perished after he was abandoned in a car on the bridge by his owner, Leonard Coatsworth. Professor Frederick Burt Farquharson, an engineer from the University of Washington who had been involved in the design of the bridge, tried to rescue Tubby but was bitten by the terrified dog when he attempted to remove him. The collapse of the bridge was recorded on [[Kodachrome]] [[16 mm film]] by Barney Elliott and Harbine Monroe, owners of The Camera Shop in [[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]], and shows Farquharson leaving the bridge after trying to rescue Tubby and making observations in the middle of the bridge. The film was subsequently sold to [[Paramount Studios]], who then duplicated the footage for newsreels in black-and-white and distributed the film worldwide to movie theaters. [[Castle Films]] also received distribution rights for [[Standard 8 mm film|8 mm home video]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Tacoma Narrows Bridge: Art of the Bridges Continues |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/TNBhistory/Art/art3.htm |website=www.wsdot.wa.gov |access-date=7 December 2020 |archive-date=1 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601053411/https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/TNBhistory/Art/art3.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=::: Tacoma Narrows Bridge Film Collection ::: |url=https://content.lib.washington.edu/filmarchweb/tacoma.html |website=content.lib.washington.edu |access-date=7 December 2020}}</ref>

Elliott and Monroe's original films of the construction and collapse of the bridge were shot on 16&nbsp;mm [[Kodachrome]] color film, but most copies in circulation are in black and white because [[newsreel]]s of the day copied the film onto 35&nbsp;mm black-and-white [[Original camera negative|stock]]. There were also film speed discrepancies between Monroe and Elliot's footage, with Monroe filming his footage in 24 fps while Elliott had filmed his footage at 16 fps.<ref name="vice">{{cite news |last1=Pasternack |first1=Alex |title=The Strangest, Most Spectacular Bridge Collapse (And How We Got It Wrong) |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-myth-of-galloping-gertie/ |access-date=7 December 2020 |work=[[Vice Magazine]] |date=14 December 2015 |language=en}}</ref> As a result, most copies in circulation also show the bridge oscillating approximately 50% faster than real time, due to an assumption during conversion that the film was shot at 24 frames per second rather than the actual 16 fps. In 1998, ''The Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse'' was selected for preservation in the [[United States]] [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing – National Film Preservation Board|publisher=The Library of Congress|access-date=2016-11-21}}</ref> This footage is commonly shown to [[engineering]], [[architecture]], and [[physics]] students as a means to teach about [[engineering disaster]].

The dismantling of the towers and side spans&nbsp;— having survived the collapse of the main span, but being damaged beyond repair&nbsp;— began shortly after the collapse and continued into May 1943. The United States' participation in [[World War II]], as well as engineering and finance issues, delayed plans to replace the bridge.