“I CAN always remember laying in bed and hearing the noise of the planks. In the old days the planks were all loose. On a frosty night when there were no other sounds you’d hear it go clink-clink, clink-clink as someone drove over. You’d hear all the noises.
“It’s been here a long time, the old bridge is an icon.” Bill Tait’s family name is as much a part of the local history as the bridge. Fittingly he was asked to be the last person to walk the bridge before contractors began dismantling it last Thursday.
His father Ron worked on the original construction, driving the piles in during the lean years of 1926-27. “The equipment that they had compared to what they have now was nothing and yet they built the bridge in less time. “
Bill’s nostalgia for the bridge is qualified by his own dad’s observations.”Dad said its time was up in the 1960s, when they put concrete decking on it.”
Bill took his final stroll across the old bridge just after the last car.
Introduced to the site superindenant, Bill said: “End of the line.” “No it’s the start of a new era,” the super answered. “Yes” said Bill, “You’re probably right.”
Ocean Grove traffic is now using the partly built new bridge.
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