  A sketch deposit of Clifford Wilson age 18 of Hamilton was the passenger in the car that did not make it to safety. Mr. Wilson had drowned and his body was not recovered until later on that evening.  The "Bascule Bridge" remained in use until 1952 when it met it's fate on April 29th, 1952 when a sand laden ship named the "W. E. Fitzgerald" rammed the north side of the bridge knocking the bridge off its center island into the canal as pictured above.  Here in this picture one can get a birdseye view of the damage that was done to the bridge. After the incident a temporary bridge called the "Baillie bridge" was built. Overtime this bridge got alot of nicknames to it, such as "the bridge of groans / the bridge of sighs / the bridge of mystery" while a new proposed plan went into effect for the birth of the Burlington Skyway Bridge.  In this photo you can see the model that was built of the new proposed Skyway Bridge. The news media named it "The Skyway To The Future."  Above is a sketch of what the skyway would look like when completed.... One can also see the old rail swing bridge that used to go along the beach strip as well as the old Baillie Bridge going across the canal...  This photo shows the archs waiting for the spans for the top of the bridge to be put on. Construction for the Skyway started in mid October of the year 1954. At the time the plan was to have a 120 ft clearance for shipping vessels, and the bridge itself would be 7,700 feet long, that would be 1.6 miles. Some folks thought that the Skyway was cursed when it was being constructed because strange things started to happen before the bridge was completed.  On Sept 3, 1957 a 40 ton crane run by a 40 year old Hamilton man by the name of "Clayton Marackle" was lifting a truck with his 130 ft crane, when out of nowhere a great gust of wind hit the crane and he could feel the crane start to tumble over hitting one of the high tension electrical wires. The crane operator jumped out as he felt the crane start to turn over, just in time to escape death. However another man named "Frank Wright" who was parked in his car with his son and a friend of the son taking pictures of the constuction site of the Skyway weren't so lucky. Apparently they were parked in the shadow of the crane at the time when the crane started to tumble over. The two kids started to yell that the crane was going to tip over and got out of the car. Meanwhile Mr. Wright did not make it out when a cable wrapped around the car hitting his neck and face seriously injuring him. Later on in the same month and year the first fatality during the construction of the Skyway Bridge happened in September of 1957. An eighteen year old apprentice named Kenneth Austin, had fallen 95 feet off the bridge to his death after missing his step on a steel frame. Skyway Bridge Page 2 Skyway Bridge Page 3 Skyway Bridge Page 4 Skyway Bridge Page 5 Skyway Bridge Page 6 Skyway Bridge Page 7     |