Yes, You Can Visit the Top of the Monumental Mackinac Bridge

Regardless of whether you're a Michigander or someone who's coming to visit, the Mackinac Bridge is truly an iconic part of Michigan that cannot be missed.

Mackinac Bridge

I remember the first time I saw the Mackinac Bridge in all her glory. I was amazed by how tall and long it was and wondered how heavy those cables were that held it up. And by the way, if you're wondering about those cables too, the bridge has a total of 11,840 Tons of cable wire holding it up. That's a hefty sum.

Many people have driven their cars across the Mackinac Bridge. In fact, earlier this month (June 2022), The Mackinac Bridge celebrated having its 200 millionth car driven across it!

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Walk Across the Mackinac Bridge

Not only can you drive across the "Mighty Mac" (the affectionate nickname for the bridge), but you can walk across it too. Once a year on Labor Day, the bridge is shut down to traffic to allow for pedestrians to walk across it. There's no charge or ticket needed, just nerves of steel.

So you can drive across the Mackinac Bridge, you can walk across it, but did you know you can also go to the top of it?

Visit the Top of the Mackinac Bridge

You read that correctly; you can visit the top of the Mackinac bridge by taking a tour of one of its towers. So if you thought you'd need nerves of steel to walk across the bridge, you're really going to need them to visit the top of the bridge.

Here's the deal though; you can't just go and buy a pass to visit the top.

The Mackinac Bridge Authority (MBA) holds a drawing once per year each August, and randomly chooses 25 non-profit organizations to receive a tower tour certificate to be raffled or auctioned for charitable purposes.   The certificates can be used May 1st through October 15th of the following year and are good for two people.

So if you're really into bridges, or maybe just death-defying heights, you should be on the lookout to bid on one of these Tower Tour Certificates.