Out With the Old, In With the New



View of the two bridges taken last April after a rainstorm

My weekend routine has been to do everything I cannot get to Monday through Thursday, since on those days I'm away from the house for upwards of 10 hours. Everything includes cleaning, laundry, food shopping, prepping meals for the week, and going to the dump. My parents don't have garbage pickup. You have to take it all to the dump, several miles outside of town. Since Dad is stuck in the house and not able to drive, when I go out on the weekend he likes to come along with me for the ride. It helps that it's spring. It helps that for the last eight days we have had spectacular spring weather here.  

As a result, Dad comes with me for the ride. We go to the dump, we go to the supermarket. Along the way he checks out Bucksport and all the places that have become familiar since Mom and Dad have been living here, almost nine years now. Sometimes he asks me to drive down this side road or take this turn to check out this section of town. More often than not, though, he asks me to drive to Verona Island and then across the Penobscot Narrows Bridge to see the progress being made on the disassembling of the old Waldo-Hancock Bridge.

You see, the Penobscot Narrows Bridge was built and was opened to the public at the tail end of 2006. It is one of three in the world built with an observation tower and is the tallest public bridge observatory in the world. To this day I have no idea how and why they decided to build it in Maine, let alone across the river from Bucksport, but hey, go Maine! It was built as an emergency replacement for the above mentioned aging Waldo-Hancock Bridge. I remember when the new bridge was finished. After seeing its progression every time I visited my parents, officials had decided to open the bridge to foot traffic for a grand opening one Saturday in October 2006. It was a big to do at the time, with such dignitaries as then Governor John Baldacci and Senator Olympia Snowe showing up to give speeches. The military was there to pomp and circumstance across the bridge. There were engineers on hand to explain how this unique looking bridge was built and how it was held together. Dad and I had walked to it from their house, not wanting to risk no parking spaces closer to the bridge. Unfortunately I lost all photos taken that year and thus have none to share. You just have to take my word for it, it was a pretty cool event.

In the seven years the new bridge has been open, the old one has continued to slowly fall apart. Last fall they finally began to tear down it down. I’m not sure what the thought process as to begin this arduous task so late in the year, with winter right around the corner, but that’s what they did. Now, here we are, however many months later and with the exception of some connecting cables, all that remains of the old bridge are the massive towers that nest on top of concrete casings driven into the Penobscot River (click here for more on the bridge removal). As slowly as this project seemed to begin, is how quickly it appears to be going now.

So every weekend now we drive over the new bridge to check on the progress of the old bridge. It’s fascinating for Dad. Since he missed most the dis-assembly being in the hospital, he is very excited to see how far they’ve come now. Soon, It won’t be long before photos can be taken of the new bridge without the old one cluttering it up the background. Then it won’t be long before people will be able to look at the new bridge and remember with nostalgia when the old one was still there. Isn’t that always the way it happens?