I wondered about this in 1985 when participating in a group ride to measure the New York City Marathon. When we rode across the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, we had to dismount in at least two places and carefully wheel across giant expansion joints. These joints were like the fingers on two hands pushed together so that they were adjacent, but permitted some back-and-forth movement. As I recall the range of relative movement was five or six feet. The gaps between adjacent fingers were barely wider than a narrow bike tire, and only a circus rider could go across non-stop without experiencing pain. Autos, with nice fat tires, of course have no problem.
As Alan has pointed out, the bridge deck is not going to expand and contract that much, but it is curved, and supported by the suspension structure, which expands and contracts also. Cold weather will raise the deck, making the bridge a bit longer, while warmer weather will lower it, shortening the bridge.
I lack the capability to calculate how much actual movement occurs in those monster expansion joints, but I’d bet it’s a foot or more.
Perhaps we need an RRTC rule to prohibit calibration courses from crossing suspension bridge expansion joints.
