The Bridge That Goes Three Ways at Once

Most bridges connect two places. Midland, Michigan, has one that connects three — all at once — and it does it with a clever bit of geometry.

It’s called the Tridge, a name that smushes together “tri” and “bridge,” and it sits right where two rivers, the Tittabawassee and the Chippewa, meet near downtown Midland. Because three shorelines come together at that confluence, an ordinary bridge wouldn’t do. So in 1981 the town built something unusual: a wooden footbridge with a single tall pillar in the middle and three long arms reaching out to three different banks, like a giant three-pointed star laid over the water.

The numbers are tidy. The center pillar stands about 31 feet tall, and each of the three wooden spokes runs 180 feet long and about 8 feet wide, meeting at a triangular deck in the middle where you can stop and watch the rivers. Building it in the middle of moving water was tricky — crews had to wall off part of the riverbed and pump it dry just to pour the central pier.

The Tridge opened in October 1981 and quickly became Midland’s signature landmark — so beloved that local groups put its shape in their logos. It’s also a gateway to the outdoors: it marks the start of the Pere Marquette Rail Trail, a long paved path that draws walkers and cyclists from across the region.

You can walk, bike, or skate across all three legs for free, any day of the year. Stand in the middle, with a different river view down each arm, and you’ll see why a town would go to the trouble of building a bridge that can’t decide which way to go — so it goes all three.