# I'm a sucker for click-bait - but this is one scary Japanese bridge! more like an artificial hill! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527 "2016-02-19T05:39:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/21 "2016-02-20T20:39:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Here’s a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPB4GeIoODo) of somebody driving over the bridge. It doesn’t seem that extreme from this close-up perspective. Now that’s really scary. Everybody is driving on the wrong side of the road.Every time there’s a driving scene in a British, Australian, or Japanese movie or TV series, I want to yell at them for driving on the wrong side of the road. It takes me a second or two to realize my mistake. It’s probably best for all involved if I never try to drive in a country with left-hand traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/22 "2016-02-20T21:13:08Z")
[Could be worse.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/23 "2016-02-20T22:51:51Z")
The steep side of Eshima Ohashi Bridge is 6.1%. [Here’s a vid of a trucker on a 6% in the USA](https://youtu.be/ohz67DShWHQ?t=2m29s). The rocks and trees will help give you better perspective. Don’t play the vid from the start, or after six minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/24 "2016-02-20T23:03:07Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > The actual steepness of the hills no longer bothers me. But I still get a little tingle every time I crest a hill and _the closest thing you can see past your car’s nose is the ocean_. [Yeh, for me the heebie-jeebie steep feeling comes when I briefly can’t see the road in front of me.](https://youtu.be/N1OnexKYuO4?t=56s) ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/25 "2016-02-21T19:57:29Z")
Piper I think you a due for a good Rockies road trip. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/26 "2016-02-22T02:18:36Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > It certainly looks scary from that angle, but it’s mostly due to perspective. [From the side](http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--ppGxN8iB--/ploar9meckallwd8r9fc.jpg), it doesn’t look any worse than lots of other minor slopes. > > I don’t recommend driving in San Francisco if this bothers you :). Or Pittsburgh. We’re pretty much nothing BUT bridges here. If I was afraid of bridges, I couldn’t even travel outside my neighborhood. I’m basically surrounded by the creek on both sides. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I am a flatlander. I did not find that video re-assuring. That’s pretty much what it’s like on every bridge I’ve ever been on. In fact, I’d rather travel on that bridge than the PA Turnpike. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/27 "2016-02-22T04:10:49Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Or Pittsburgh. We’re pretty much nothing BUT bridges here. If I was afraid of bridges, I couldn’t even travel outside my neighborhood. I’m basically surrounded by the creek on both sides. > > That’s pretty much what it’s like on every bridge I’ve ever been on. In fact, I’d rather travel on that bridge than the PA Turnpike. 😉 I came here to mention Pittsburgh as well. Not only tons of bridges and hills, but also snow. When my now wife (who has a thing against bridges) came to Pittsburgh with me to meet the parents, she was a freaked out mess (not to mention that my parents at the time lived in BRIDGEVILLE). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/28 "2016-02-22T04:35:01Z")
Eh, Pittsburgh isn’t all bridges. Some of it is tunnels. And there are a few places in Cleveland where the interstates are stacked four layers high, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/29 "2016-02-22T04:42:16Z")
(just missed the edit window) [Here’s an example](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4738599,-81.6938688,3a,75y,77.47h,85.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spbBXO_x2QHVcjbEDaZzZhA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/30 "2016-02-22T17:38:49Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Northern Piper and other flatlanders; I’m told there’s a troupe of people you can hire to drive your car over Florida’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge (which is probably the one in WOOKINPANUB’s link,) while you hold your hands over your eyes. You stop to hire the driver on one side of the bridge, he gets in the driver’s seat to drive over the bridge, and you stop to let him off on the other side. Then he’ll cross the road and drive somebody else back. At the end of a shift, he’ll get into his own car to go home. There are big pull-off areas at both ends of the bridge. Yes, I’m talking about the Skyway Bridge. I never knew you could hire someone to drive you over. I hate going over the thing but I haven’t gotten quite that bad yet. **WhyNot** , Wacker Dr. is indeed wack! It’s like the city’s founders went out of their way to confound tourists. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/31 "2016-02-22T18:13:23Z")
I would like to ride my scooter on it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/32 "2016-02-22T19:59:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Eh, Pittsburgh isn’t all bridges. Some of it is tunnels. > > And there are a few places in Cleveland where the interstates are stacked four layers high, too. LA made its [4-level](http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/CHS-48579.jpg) a local reference point. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/33 "2016-02-22T20:44:27Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Now that’s really scary. Everybody is driving on the wrong side of the road.Every time there’s a driving scene in a British, Australian, or Japanese movie or TV series, I want to yell at them for driving on the wrong side of the road. It takes me a second or two to realize my mistake. It’s probably best for all involved if I never try to drive in a country with left-hand traffic. We have signs to remind you furriners! Behold, the [Great Ocean Road](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic#/media/File:Drive_on_left_in_australia.jpg) in southern Victoria!! ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/34 "2016-02-22T20:46:56Z")
How about something from Norway? [http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/03/storseisundetthe-bridge-to-nowhere.html](http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/03/storseisundetthe-bridge-to-nowhere.html) ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/35 "2016-02-22T21:43:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland offers that service as well. I used to work with a woman who lived in Virginia whose family lived somewhere on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and she had to use that service every time she wanted to go home to visit family. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/36 "2016-02-22T21:55:54Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland offers that service as well. [Relevant article](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2331679/Chesapeake-Bay-bridge-The-Maryland-bridge-terrifying-locals-pay-25-company-shuttle-car.html). I had to drive across the bridge (both ways) to attend a wedding in Ocean City, MD. It doesn’t look that scary - there are no steep grades or anything - but the superstructure is [pretty much built into the road surface so it’s super narrow in most places](http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/bridgebay1.jpg). I was basically okay - I don’t mind heights, and my primary concern was not denting the rental car by colliding with some moron in an RV - but my wife was literally huddling in the footwell by the time we were halfway across. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/37 "2016-02-23T03:25:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > LA made its [4-level](http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/CHS-48579.jpg) a local reference point. Get with the times, [we’re up to five levels](http://www.thousandwonders.net/Judge+Harry+Pregerson+Interchange) now. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/38 "2016-02-23T04:20:30Z")
> [@KCB615](#): > > The[Jamestown Verrazano Bridge](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown_Verrazzano_Bridge#/media/File%3AJamestown_Verrazzano_Bridge_2.JPG)in Rhode Island has a similar appearance. The predecessor Jamestown Bridge (closed in 1992 when the new one opened) had an identical height, but was much, much steeper. And only one narrow lane in each direction. With a grated deck. That was a scary bridge. > [@cjepson](#): > > Amen to that. [This photo](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=old+jamestown+bridge+rhode+island+image&view=detailv2&qpvt=old+jamestown+bridge+rhode+island+image&id=59CCF6388199A441B4928D2DE30B2B5A2F0246E1&selectedIndex=1&ccid=JiwP7krU&simid=607993655759209873&thid=OIP.M262c0fee4ad4ce791755c29f6ae71e2fo0&ajaxhist=0)provides some sense of what that bridge was like… the photo shows the infamous grated deck in the foreground (which invariably caused one’s car to veer back and forth slightly from left to right), but without the solid lines of traffic moving at around 40 mph. (At least that big cable-looking thing in the right hand lane was not there when the bridge was open. This picture comes from when the new bridge, one terminus of which can be seen at the right, was already completed.) > [@Shagnasty](#): > > That is exactly the bridge I thought about as well when I saw the Japanese photo. It is an impressive bridge and I have driven across it many times. I really wish I had a video of the time I drove up it and the top of the hump was nothing but thick fog that completely obscured it. Visibility was great at the bottom but not the top so it just looked like you were taking a drive of faith that the bridge didn’t just end suddenly over the water. The old Jamestown bridge was indeed scary; you never wanted to go any faster than 40 mph or so. Even after the new bridge was built, they left the old bridge in place for years until the Coast Guard finally made them demolish it. I drove over the new Jamestown bridge almost every day to go to grad school at the University of Rhode Island. (We lived in Newport at the time.) The new bridge is memorable to me because you could really open it up when going westbound from Jamestown to the mainland. After all, there was no place for a police officer to hide, and you had excellent sight lines once you got over the crest of the bridge. I once hit 115 mph on that bridge in my BMW 325is, which is the fastest I’ve ever driven in the U.S. 🆒 (I’ve driven considerably faster on the Autobahn in Germany.) In my defense, this stunt was when I was young and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/39 "2016-02-23T04:57:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Houston is nice and flat. But highway builders make up for that by [stacking roads](http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/27346187.jpg) on top of each other. It can be disconcerting to be driving along an expressway and realize you’re two hundred feet off the ground. > [@silenus](#): > > LA made its [4-level](http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/CHS-48579.jpg) a local reference point. > [@buddha\_david](#): > > Get with the times, [we’re up to five levels](http://www.thousandwonders.net/Judge+Harry+Pregerson+Interchange) now. 😛 Houston now has at least [**seven** five-level stack interchanges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_interchange#Texas-style_stack) on Beltway 8, plus another one on the 610 loop. My mom refuses to drive over the highest ones. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527/40 "2016-02-23T14:32:59Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > I think that is a step up, not a shunt to the side. There is a step up in the same segment, but no trick of forced perspective or extreme zoom will make a straight-on shot show a lateral displacement where there isn’t one. (See the first, leftmost frame in the three-picture sequence at OP’s link.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-sucker-for-click-bait-but-this-is-one-scary-japanese-bridge-more-like-an-artificial-hill/746527.md?page=3)