Losing the past, and getting a new bridge.

We live about a mile from this bridge.

It is the last swing bridge in North Carolina.

It is history.

When the big boats come down the Intracostal Waterway the bridge swings open.

A loud whistle blows and the bridge moves.

(Right where the little white house is.)

This is fun to watch and the boats line up and go through the open space.

The whistle blows and the bridge closes and then the cars can cross again.

Do you see the sign?

It tells us that the bridge opens every hour on the hour.

People on Sunset Beach Island have only one way on & off the Island.

The bridge can stay open for 15-20 minutes in the summer.

For years it has been a big struggle between the people that want the bridge to stay and the ones that want it torn down and a big high rise bridge built.

I guess by the photos (I took them this morning)

you can tell who won.

The new High Rise Bridge is almost at completion.

One more piece to go.

Then the old one will be torn down and not one person will have to wait to get on or off the Island. We will gain a faster more efficient way to get to the island.

But we will never again park our cars in the middle of the street and watch the bridge open and the boats file past and wave to the captains and listen for the horn to blow and hurry back to our car and start home.

I'll miss being in my back yard and hearing that horn blow.

But thats progress, I guess.