Sunday's bomb threat snarled southbound traffic on the Big Mac, but it being Michigan, those caught in traffic helped ease the situation.

A bomb scare that shut down the bridge at around 2:00 pm Sunday afternoon, at the height of southbound traffic returning home from their weekend up north excursions, caused traffic to back for miles along I-75 and US 2 in the Upper Peninsula.

The bridge eventually reopened at around 5:00 pm, and when it did, toll takers were anticipating some very frustrated and cranky drivers stuck in the mess. And while I'm sure there was a share of that, most travelers took another tact and began paying for several cars at once to help ease the burden.

According to the Sault News, one woman even laid down $100 for the next 24 cars to pass toll free onto the bridge, to help speed the rate of cars going through.

The young woman was traveling by herself and offered the "Benny" because she felt some of the drivers "deserved a break" for having had to sit in the warm sun waiting for the Bridge traffic to start moving again.

The incident was highlighted on the subscription web site Michigan Information & Research Service, a Lansing newsletter on state government. 

"We were anticipating some frustrated customers, and sometimes they are not so pleasant toward our collectors," Mackinac Bridge Authority Bridge Director Kim Nowack told the Sault News. "Traffic was stopped for three hours and backed up."

While it is not uncommon to see travelers pay for the car behind them, it was the first time they saw someone pony up $100 to pay for a long string of cars.

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