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The Sunset Beach, NC, Pontoon Bridge Jo O'Keefe Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved |
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Video
about the Bridges of Sunset Beach: http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/travel/video/9008720/#/vid9008720
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History
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Until January 7, 2011, when its old bridge opened for the last time, Sunset Beach had the last floating or pontoon bridge crossing the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It allowed people to drive vehicles to and from the natural barrier island of Sunset Beach to the mainland. The only other pontoon bridge at that time on the east coast, closed to traffic in September 2010, crossed Sunset Lake in Brookfield, Vermont. In 1955, reportedly for $55,000, Mannon C. Gore purchased the island from the Brooks Family and 400 acres on the mainland from the International Paper Company. At that time the island was called Bald Island. Gore renamed it Sunset Beach. Development of the barrier island soon began. In 1958 Gore built a wooden bridge with a floating section in the center that opened and closed on a hinge. In 1961 the North Carolina Department of Transportation assumed responsibility for the roadway and constructed a new bridge to Sunset Beach. It was comprised of a bulkhead timber creosote barge with a bridge tender house and ramps. Approximately every two years the barge was taken out of the water for two to three weeks at a time for repairs. The bridge was "dry-docked" for repairs in at least 1964, 1967, 1969 and 1971. Vehicles could not drive to the island during those periods. In 1984 the center, floating, portion of the bridge was replaced. Eight metal barges were purchased for $182,000 from a Chester, South Carolina, company, Shugart Manufacturing, hence giving them the name "Shugart Barges." They are pinned together similar to the hinges of doors, two on each end and four grouped together in the center. A new bridge was built on top of them at the NCDOT Bridge Maintenance yard in Belville near Wilmington. The maintenance yard had dock and harbor facilities on the Brunswick River. After construction, the bridge was brought to Sunset Beach on the Brunswick River, then the Cape Fear River and finally via the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The barges supported a 115-foot movable span that included 35-foot ramps at each end that fluctuated with the tides. A 2-story house rested on the barges along side the ramps and roadway. Motors, winches, pulleys, cables and other mechanical parts that opened and closed the bridge were housed on the lower level. In the upper level, the bridge tender monitored vessels on the waterway and operated the control panel. Four large counterweights in towers were outside on the platform. Portions of the bridge above the barges cost $130,357, for a total cost of $312,357. To see the NC DOT work order for the 1984 bridge, click here. It was approved in September 1983. On August 2, 1984, the document was signed after the project was completed. No portions of the 1958 and 1961 bridges remained after 1964. The 1958 bridge was demolished when the 1961 bridge was constructed. Reportedly after the 1984 bridge was in place, the 1961 bridge was sunk offshore to become an artificial reef. The metal barges supported the bridge for 26 years. Exposure to salt water resulted in extensive corrosion. In 2006 marine-grade floatable foam was injected into the barges to prevent them from taking on water. The foam, although flammable, ended the routine welding of patches and the need for a pump system to remove water. |
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The 508-foot long
swing bridge with the mainland entrance and exit from the new bridge
far in the back. At 2,563 feet, the new bridge is five times as long.
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A winch pulled two
pairs of counterweights - four total - that operated on a fulcrum basis
to raise the ramps when the bridge opened, enabling the bridge to swing
free of the roadway. A second winch pulled one cable to open the bridge
to make a lane in which vessels could pass. Afterward a third winch
pulled a cable to close the bridge.
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the bridge opening
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Cables operated
by winches moved the bridge, one pulling it open to clear a lane for
vessels, and a second cable pulling it closed for vehicular traffic..
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The
cable in these photos was used to pull the bridge open. In these images
the bridge had just reached its open position. The bridge tender released
the cable to allow it to sink to the bottom of the waterway while vessels
passed.
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Photo courtesy of the Town of Sunset Beach A welcome sound for those waiting in vessels on the water was emitted from the bridge horn. The bridge tender sounded it to indcate that the bridge was fully open and that boats could pass through. The operator sounded the horn again before closing the bridge. |
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The pontoon bridge
was protected from vessel damage through a fender system composed of
pier-like extensions and cluster pilings. A pair of extensions on the
island side and one on the northwest corner, combined with the bridge
itself, defined the 90-foot-wide lane for vessels. Cluster pilings bounced
boats back on course between the piers to prevent them from striking
the bridge itself.
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Vessels of "Snowbirds"
heading south for the winter awaited a 2 PM opening of the bridge, 11/01/10
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NCDOT photo of
bridge platform, roadway, tender house and counterweights
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Photo
from City-Data.com
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Bridge beginning
to open after ramps were raised, photo gy Gayle Plaia, 03/06/06
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Click here to
watch a 45-second-long a video of boats passing through the bridge:
http://s1009.photobucket.com/albums/af220/jookeefe/?action=view¤t=100_1542.mp4.
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This control panel
had switches that controlled the two crossing gates and the two pairs
of stop lights. The engine would not start until gates had dropped.
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This stairway
was used by bridge tenders to go down to the engine room.
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Ben Hooper, from
the NCDOT Brunswick County Bridge Maintenence Office, filled in for
the bridge tender on the day I visited. He scanned the waterway for
oncoming vessels, particularly commercial and government vessels for
which the bridge had to open at any time.
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Ben notified captains
of sailboats that he would wait for all of them to reach the bridge
before opening it.
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This was the primary
diesel engine or motor. The round coral pump on this end activated the
hydraulic fluid that operated the winches.
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This is a back-up
engine available if the primary engine had problems. It included a generator
to power auxiliary equipment such as saws, although that the generator
was never used.
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The winch that
closed the bridge is on the left. The winch that controlled the counterweights
or balances is in the center.
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Cables from the
three winches passed through these four pulleys.
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The winch that
closed the bridge
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Pulleys from left
and right winches. Each went to the corner of a barge in the water that
was tied to a piling.
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Hydraulic handles
operated winches and pulleys
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As mentioned earlier,
winches pulled a pair of counterweights that operated on a fulcrum basis
like a seesaw.. When the weights on each side of the ramp were up, the
ramp was down. When the weights were down, the ramp was up. The bridge
tender lowered the counterweights to raise the ramps to allow the bridge
to swing clear of the roadway.
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Photo courtesy
of Marinas.com®. All Rights Reserved
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Marinas.com granted permission to include this photo on this webpage. It increases appreciation of how vital the series of little swing bridges were for 50 years by providing passage across the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The bridge opened on the hour for pleasure craft when vessels were waiting. It opened at all times for commercial and government vessels. Thus the bridge might have opened on the hour for a line of pleasure boats, closed, and then re-opened promptly for a fishing trawler. An average of six times per month the tide was so low that the bridge could not be opened because of the risk of being mired in mud. In that case, boats waited through low tide until the water level was high enough for the bridge tender to open the bridge safely. |
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Bridge open for
traffic on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Sunset Beach, NC, 05/10/10
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Bridge open for
boat traffic, 06/04/10
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The foggy beginning
of a new day for children living on Sunset Beach
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Beginning in 1983, Sunset Beach property owners opposed construction of a high-rise bridge such as those approved for nearby Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach. Claims were that the environment would be damaged and the nature of the island itself would change. Opposition and lawsuits continued for a quarter of a century. The cost for construction of the new, high-rise bridge for Sunset Beach rose from an estimated $5.2 million to nearly $31 million. Adding in Department design, inspection and supervision during construction, and legal expenses, brought the overall cost to around $42,400,000. During some of those years the
North Carolina Department of Transportation spent nearly a half million
dollars to maintain and operate the old bridge. Operators, i.e., bridge
tenders, cost NCDOT approximately $125,000 per year. Besides personnel
costs to operate the bridge, all parts of the pontoon bridge were
kept in safe operating condition by the NCDOT. The timber roadway
surface was replaced approximately every two years. In comparison
to the high expense involved in maintaining the wooden bridge, in
2006 NCDOT spent under $3,800 to maintain the nearby high-rise bridge
on Ocean Isle Beach. In FY 2009-2010, NCDOT spent $262,910.57 more
on the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge than it did on the Ocean Isle Beach
Bridge. Because the bridge opened for commercial and government vessels on demand, there were additional delays for vehicular traffic. In 2005 the Average Daily Traffic was 4,300 vehicles per day. By 2007 the Annual Average Daily Traffic had increased to approximately 7,000 vehicles per day. It continued to increase. Scores and sometimes hundreds of vehicles were delayed on both the island side and the mainland when the bridge opened. In the right-hand photo below, sailboats passed through the bridge. Vessels on the waterway took precedence because the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway was constructed before the bridge.
For nearly a half century, living at Sunset Beach required remembering the bridge schedule. Each meeting, tee-time and low tide walk had to be planned to avoid an hourly bridge opening. Yet, some persons rushing from one activity to another, developed an appreciation of the pause those bridge delays provided.
Because of opposition to construction of a new bridge and the three years spent building the new bridge, for 28 years both vehicular traffic and vessels were held up daily, wasting fuel and interrupting schedules. Visitors were stranded on the island and mainland for many hours at a time when part of the bridge broke. As an example, in 2009, thousands of persons were affected by nine cable breaks. |
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Boats waiting
for bridge to open
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Sunset Beach Bridge
broken on 10/12/04 with workmen repairing it. The red horn, protected
by wood, juts out on the right side of the bridge tender house.
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Persons waited
on the island side (left) and the mainland side (right) while repairs
were underway
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Sometimes delays were extensive. On Monday, December 15, 2003, when the bridge was closing after a vessel passed through, a nearby barge became wedged between the center portion of the bridge and support pilings. The bridge was closed for 12 hours.
Photo by Jamie Moncrief
courtesy of the Wilmington Star-News On April 28, 2004, a 20-year-old man tried to drive across the bridge while it was open. His pickup truck landed upright in 17 feet of water. The driver and passenger swam ashore. Once again the bridge was closed for 12 hours until equipment arrived and removed the truck from the water. |
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Boats passing
through the open bridge
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The most serious issue related to the bridge was the safety of persons on the island. Reaching someone on the island during a medical crisis such as a seizure, heart attack or serious Portuguese Man of War attack could take a long time. Transporting the person off the island took additional time. Emergency crews had delays reaching persons in need on the island. The fire department's large ladder truck, weighing 72,000 pounds, was unable to cross the bridge because of weight restrictions. If the maximum load of the bridge were exceeded, one or more of the pontoons could have become submerged and sunk into the mud. Because beach fires spread rapidly, countless houses on the island could have burned if fire trucks had been unable to respond to a fire call.
On several occasions
some folks who did not mind bridge delays traveled to Sunset Beach
in mule-drawn covered wagons. One of the trips was described in Rural
Heritage Magazine by Shannon Hoffman, as told to her by Ken Tyndall.
When one man, Billy Stevenson, decided to walk across because he was
afraid that the bridge might collapse from the wagons, a woman visiting
from Georgia eagerly hopped in the wagon to take his place. During
a pleasant ride on the beach at low tide, the mules were more concerned
about the waves than they had been about crossing the bridge.
In December 2007 Judge Louise Flanagan refused to grant an injunction requested by the Sunset Beach Taxpayers Association and the Brunswick Environmental Action Team to deny construction of the high-rise bridge. That allowed NCDOT to award the contract. Next, the opponents withdrew their final lawsuit. Undeniably, a new bridge was needed. Although it was always safe, the pontoon bridge had a sufficiency rating of four on a scale of one to 100. |
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The contract was awarded to English Construction Company, Inc. of Lynchburg, Virginia. On February 19, 2008, English Construction staff, along with NCDOT engineers, arrived on the site. Soon afterwards workmen began preliminary tasks such as tree clearing. Finally, after nearly three years of construction, the Mannon C. Gore Bridge to Sunset Beach opened on November 11, 2010.
A photo of the bridge with Red Buckeye growing in the foreground, taken prior to the beginning of construction of the new bridge in February 2008 |
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Retiring the Bridge The old pontoon bridge remained in operation for two more months. A bridge tender continued to open it hourly on weekdays when vessels were waiting. English Construction Company workers used the bridge to remove truckloads of debris from demolition of a work bridge in the waterway, a half-mile detour used by vehicles during bridge construction, and a portion of roadway leading from the island to the bridge itself. The Bridge Opening for the Last Time, 01/07/11 |
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