Many people are creating 3D models of buildings, bridges, dams and other structures around the world and uploading them to the Google 3DWarehouse. Many of the better quality buildings end up getting included in the Google Earth 3D Buildings layer. As with most creative processes, sometimes modelers get a little carried away and sometimes include a little easter egg. I was perusing Greg Rose’s SketchUp Buildings blog and noticed he had pointed out a little addition to the model of the Tacony-Palmyra bridge between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Those of you who saw the classic “Blues Brothers” movie will recognize the car jumping the drawbridge in the model – which you can view in Google Earth here 
. I don’t think this is the same bridge from the scene in the movie (and they didn’t go over the bridge), but it certainly is a fun little easter egg for the 3D model!
[UPDATE: Check out the Google Earth animation someone made of the Blues Brothers car jumping the bridge. You can see this yourself in GE if you read the story.]
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.
Frank,
It’s kind of fun to see this posted. The irony for me, is that not only were the bridge scenes in the first Blues Brothers movie shot in my hometown of Wauconda, Illinois — but my uncle had handled the wrecking services for the entire filming event. I was only in first grade at the time — and prior to the Jewel/Osco being there, there were two little-league baseball fields, which gave us kids the ability to watch cars jumping and crashing from the gradeschool slide at recess.
The beach scene (with the giant horn atop the car) was also filmed here on Bangs Lake. Phil’s Beach and Sunny Hill beach (which they took the fence down to expand the scene between the two beaches) no longer exist, actually — having closed down years ago due to high insurance rates.
(If I recall, I think they included a shot of someone going down the infamous ‘J-Slide’, that still sits at the beach today.)
The actual location for the bridge scene was filmed at the following intersection, where the hill is built-up for the Rt. 12 overpass, over Rt. 176.:
Google Maps, My Maps link:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=42.26035,-88.148203&spn=0.02614,0.025749&t=h&z=15&om=1&msid=101705477183184994155.000435ea314addc5d9538
Google Maps KML link:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&mpnum=3&output=nl&msid=101705477183184994155.000435ea314addc5d9538
(Hopefully those links go through anyway.)
A number of shots for Ground Hog’s Day were also shot in our little town here as well — specifically at the historic Andrew Cook house.
I love the scene with the horn! “You, on the bicycle”.
I have read that some folks hide the “default person” that appears in every new SketchUp model window in their projects too sometimes.
I have not see any “default people” yet, but when I saw the car, all I could think about was that it had cop shocks, cop motor, but needed another cigarette lighter! (ha!)
Thanks for the post!
aww. i opened this hoping it was another time animation (like the carousel model frank posted about earlier.) it would be reeeeeeeeeeeally cool to see this film sequence reconstructed in earth! *wink wink*
Hello Frank, It’s amazing The amount of SU & GE models available at a click. Thanks for links to the sources.
Jessica, try http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/955020/ for a animation base layout of the bridge jump. Perhaps later I will turn the car around and touch up the altitudes a bit more.
kinda odd… that background shot has an amazing resemblence to microsoft flight simulator…
The actual draw bridge is the E 95th street bridge over the canal for Lake Calumet. On the south side of Chicago.
41deg 43’22.19″ N
87 deg 32′ 35.14″ W
finally here it is
http://maps.google.de/maps?q=41.722878,-87.542626&hl=de&ll=41.722865,-87.542439&spn=104.697692,228.339844&sll=41.722868,-87.5422&sspn=104.697692,228.339844&t=w&z=3&layer=c&panoid=kOnwBDDjOzFa484a1AnagQ&cbll=41.722865,-87.542439&cbp=13,-425.3638671051227,,0,1.3750987083137005