The project-the longest total suspension bridge in the world-would span the Starits of Mackinac where winds exceed eighty miles an hour and ice windrows reach a height of forty feet. It would connect two largely rural communities with a combined population of less than four thousand and would require the largest bond issue ever proposed for the construction of a bridge. Little wonder that some Wall Street investors labeled the proposition as ludicrous. Nonetheless, the Mackinac Bridge became a reality.