Group Hopes To Save N.C. Swing Bridge
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Sept. 8, 2010
A new 65-foot-tall bridge looms above the old swing bridge in Sunset Beach, N.C., which is slated for demolition.
Credit: The Old Sunset Beach Bridge Preservation Society
To reach the barrier island of Sunset Beach, N.C., you may have to wait for the swing bridge to open, as it's done once each hour since it opened in the 1960s. Now the one-lane bridge is set to be replaced with a more modern one—and the state department of transportation plans to demolish the original span.
In July, locals formed the Old Sunset Beach Bridge Preservation Society to save the swing bridge. So far the grassroots organization has gathered about 6,000 signatures on a petition urging town officials to retain a portion of the bridge.
The society won a small victory on Aug. 12, when the town council passed a motion to seek approval to use a 50-foot-long section as a fishing pier or relocate a 100-foot-long section, tender's house, and ramps to a five-acre parcel of private land that is under consideration for a new town park.
"It was heartening to see was how many people care about the bridge. We got over 5,000 signatures in a matter of five weeks," says Ann Bokelman, one of the society's co-chairs. "We are very much hopeful that the town will decide to save that 100-foot midsection part. That's just become the icon of the town." Engineers have confirmed it's possible to save the wood planks that comprise the middle section of the bridge.
Sunset Beach Mayor Ron Klein says it's too soon to tell how much of the bridge can be saved. "We don't know when they try to pick that thing up how much will hold up. It might just fall completely apart," Klein says. The town council is considering "reconstructing an identical one that would be easier to maintain and would be in better shape," he says.
The Old Sunset Beach Bridge Preservation Society also wants to save the two-story bridge tender's house, and restore it as a museum devoted to local history.
A local farmer, Mannon Gore, conceived and built the bridge and house around 1960, opening Sunset Beach to development. Today the swing bridge is among the last such spans on the Intracoastal Waterway.
"It's a quiet little community, and we kind of want to keep the feel, the era of that [by retaining the bridge]," says society co-chair Karen Dombrowski. The proposed park, a waterfront parcel with century-old live oak trees, is "such a beautiful site we think the whole picture would be a complement to our town."
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Comments
Submitted by JED at: September 16, 2010
Chincoteague, VA, lost it's swing bridge last year to a modern bridge. It's not the same place at all now.
Submitted by crabsail at: September 14, 2010
We're trying to do a similar thing to save a drawbridge the federal Highway Authority wants to replace with a fixed bridge. We've been working on this for 5 years. Dan Crabbe, Friends of the Oceanic Bridge, Rumson NJ
Submitted by Madeline at: September 14, 2010
Thank you for including the story on saving the Sunset Beach Bridge. This is an invaluable piece of our built landscape. We are fortunate that a group is working to save it for us all.