Surprisingly, Some People Can’t Conceptualize Just How Big Lake Michigan Is

Most native Michiganders get it inherently, the Great Lakes are big. Like really big. Vast inland seas - the largest concentration of fresh water on Earth - 20 percent of the planet's fresh water big.

But if you're not a native of the Great Lakes region, can you truly comprehend how big the Great Lakes - or any single lake - really is?

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The question came up on a Facebook group dedicated to Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies recently when someone asked about the feasibility of building a bridge across Lake Michigan.

READ MORE: Most People Have No Idea How Long Michigan's Mackinac Bridge Actually Is

The post shows a map displaying driving distance from Saugatuck, Michigan south along the lakeshore around Northwest Indiana into Chicagoland with a route ending at Milwaukee. The drive is just shy of 4 1/2 hours travelling 219 miles.

So would a bridge work?

If one was from another part of the country, perhaps it may seem possible. After all, those in Louisiana would be familiar with the causeway across Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans. That bridge is 23 miles long. Unlike a potential Lake Michigan bridge, the causeway runs low to the water as there is not shipping traffic like the Great Lakes.

Or some may point to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia. Running north from the Virginia Beach to the Delmarva Peninsula, that span a commination of bridges and tunnels spans 17 miles with the tunnel portion allowing for the passage of maritime vessels.

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Or, our neighbors to the north in Canada would likely quickly point to the Confederation Bridge. That span of 8 miles takes drivers over the open, and often frozen waters of The Northumberland Strait and connects the Province of Prince Edward Island with the mainland.

But none of those bridges would match the scope of a span needed to cross Lake Michigan. As a narrow spot in the Lake, say Silver Lake in Michigan near Ludington to Sheboygan in Wisconsin is 58 miles.

The Mackinac Bridge is Michigan's best known bridge and spans a scant 5 miles over the narrowest point in the Straits of Mackinac.

There are a bevy of reasons why the Lake Michigan passage would likely be practically impossible beyond the sheer distance:

• The amount of drilling to secure the bridge in the deepest parts of the lake
• Disruption to shipping lanes
• High winds
• Winter ice
• No islands in the lake south of the Manitous to provide any mooring or rest stops

Oh, and the cost.

There are two ferries that provide across across the lake. One leaving from Ludington and another from Muskegon.

So it's likely that we will never have the opportunity to drive from Michigan to Wisconsin via our own majestic Mighty Mich bridge.