More than 60 years old, the Mackinac Bridge remains the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere, and its success reflects a design shaped to meet the Straits of Mackinac's severe winds and grinding ice. A bridge across the straits was discussed for decades before plans advanced, in part because it would have to endure "savage winds" and "pile-driving ice." Dr. David B. Steinman was chosen to design a bridge in harmony with nature, solid enough to divert driving ice yet open enough to let wind pass through. He used an openwork superstructure, with open trusses beneath the roadbed, half of the roadbed surface left open, and low, open railings so wind could flow through the bridge like water through a sieve. In Steinman's time, the highest recorded wind across the straits was 78 mph; his design was stable up to winds of 632 mph, and engineers today report the bridge can withstand winds of 1,000 mph, while the modern wind speed record in the straits is 121 mph. To resist ice pressure that could reach 23,000 pounds per lineal foot of pier width, the piers were designed as telescoping tubes, massive below the water line and narrower at the surface where they met the ice, reducing pounding and handling five times the expected ice pressure. They were also wrapped in armor plate steel across the range between low and high water to resist corrosion from grinding ice. When serious bridge planning began in 1940, several engineers showed interest, including L.S. Moiseiff, but delays caused by the slow recovery from the Great Depression and then World War II postponed action until the 1950s. By then the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge had removed Moiseiff from consideration, and Steinman, who had built notable bridges on five continents and won many civil engineering awards, was selected. Influenced by his childhood beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, he insisted that the Mackinac Bridge should be beautiful as well as safe and functional. Disliking the usual black and gray bridge paint, he wanted warmer, brighter colors that would harmonize with the landscape, and the bridge's green and ivory colors were adopted after decision makers favored a magazine rendering prepared before the official colors were chosen. In 1998, before Japan built the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, Japanese engineers visited the Mackinac Bridge and consulted with its engineers and maintenance workers.