T-Bridge/Drawbridge - Chincoteague Island, VA
Posted by: fullxr
N 37° 56.264 W 075° 22.293
18S E 467351 N 4198971
The Bridge Connecting Chincoteague Island to the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Waymark Code: WMGNZQ
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 03/26/2013
Views: 1
The 4,035 foot long, 43 foot wide $69.3 million bridge connecting the Eastern Shore of Virginia via the Chincoteague Road (Rt.175)/ John B. Whealton Memorial Causeway to the intersection of Main Street and Maddox Boulevard on Chincoteague Island has a 729 foot long connector spur to Marsh Island. In addition, the Virginia Department of Transportation Bridge Tender can raise a drawbridge to allow boats with tall masts to pass under the bridge on the Chincoteague Channel.
The bridge was open for traffic in April, the grand opening ceremony was scheduled for October 16 and construction was completed in December of 2010.
The current bridge replaced an old swing bridge that online records say was built around 1940. The bridge was demolished in January of 2011. The number of photographs and paintings of the old bridge may equal the number of people who passed over the bridge during the 70 years it served Chincoteague Island. The sunsets behind the silhouette of the bridge were spectacular (see Gallery for an example).
A Bass River Township, NJ history site describes a bridge that resembles the old Chincoteague swing bridge. "The second iron bridge (constructed around 1917) served the area well until the mid 1950's when the Garden State Parkway was built with it's new bridge spanning the Mullica (river) between New Gretna and Port Republic. The two bridges stood side by side for a time, until the iron bridge was dismantled and shipped to Chincoteague, Virginia where it served well for many years." If this is the same bridge demolished in 2011, the old swing bridge was about 94 years old! Imagine the number of vehicles that crossed the old bridge - and the changes in transportation it witnessed!
To see an interesting 50 second time-lapse photography video of the demolition of the old swing bridge posted by the Virginia Department of Transportation, watch "VDOT: Chincoteague Bridge removal time lapse" at www.youtube.com.
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