I received a suggestion

One of my peeps mentioned that I am spending a lot of time talking about trains and how bad our transit system is.  That may actually be true.  So let's change the subject, and go back to the question of bridges.  Some of my readers might have noticed I have a thing for bridges.  It's a long running romance, let's say.  Bridges have always fascinated me. 

I remember when I was a little kid - we still had the '49 Ford then - going from our summer cottage in Silverton to Seaside Heights, the Route 37 bridge was still made of wood.  It was very narrow,  just one skinny lane in each direction, and the road surface was wooden planks, kind of like a board walk.  I was always nervous that it might break while we were on it, and we would splash into Barnegat Bay - which wouldn't be much of an issue in terms of water, it's not very deep.  But the crunch when that heavy Ford hit the bottom could be an issue.   We would all be flattened, I think.  Not exactly the way I envisioned ending my summer. 

At some point, they built a real bridge, concrete and steel, three lanes so you could have two at a time going whichever way the traffic was heavier.  It was still a while before the smaller bridge from Pelican Island to Seaside was redone.  It had a partial wooden deck for a while after the big bridge was replaced.   How much time passed, I can't say, I was a kid, and had no sense of time.  Since then, a second bridge was added next to the big one, so last I checked there were 3 lanes in each direction.  Back when the bridge was wooden, it was also a drawbridge, so some days traffic would have to sit and wait for boat traffic to pass.  The new bridges are higher, so no more drawbridge on the taller one, no more sitting and watching boats go by - or even better, getting out of the car to hang on the rail and watch. And of course, no more bridge operators in their little booths. 

These are the latest iteration of the Route 37 bridge between Toms River and Seaside Heights.  The shorter one is the older one, of course.  It actually is a drawbridge, still, but I haven't been down there in several years, so I had to look that up (and I wouldn't even consider going until summer is well over).  Seems to me the original wooden bridge was flat all the way across the bay, with the bascule (aka drawbridge) in the center.  I found an article from the Asbury Park Press that says the taller bridge was built in 1970.  It's called the J. Stanley Tunney Bridge.  Its shorter partner is the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge, and considering a friend of mine who is five years younger than me doesn't remember the bridge ever being wooden, the Mathis must have been built in the early 1960s, maybe.  It says in Wikipedia that it was built in 1950, but I can't buy that, as I have been on the old wooden bridge and I was not born yet in 1950.  I remember crossing it in the '49 Ford, but not in the '57 Ford, which was its successor.   

I haven't been able to find any pictures of the wooden bridge. I'd be interested to see if any exist.  This site has some old pictures of Seaside:  http://www.discoverseasideheights.com/history/toms-river-bridge  Their discussion of the railroads is also fascinating, and be sure to check out the carousel, which is still in operation, after surviving Hurricane Sandy.

Thinking about it, my friend doesn't remember Wild West City, either.  It was an early theme park near the intersection of Hooper Avenue and Fisher Boulevard.  We fondly referred to it as Mosquito City.  I suspect the mosquitoes were one of the main reasons it didn't last too long.  There apparently are Wild West Cities elsewhere, but that particular one is long gone.