Built as a privately-owned toll bridge spanning the Savannah River at the Georgia-South Carolina state line, the Smith-McGee Bridge was purchased by Georgia and South Carolina in 1926 and the toll removed. It’s a good example of the once-common camelback through truss design.
It was replaced with a new bridge in 1983. The eastern section of the bridge has been removed but it is open to pedestrians and is a popular spot for viewing the river.
At 7779 feet, the Sidney Lanier Bridge has the longest span of any bridge in Georgia. Reaching a height of 480 feet, it’s a replacement for the 1956 vertical-lift bridge of the same name. On 7 November 1972 the African Neptune struck the earlier bridge, resulting in ten deaths. On 3 May 1987 that bridge was again struck, this time by the Polish freighter Ziemia Bialostocka. Like Savannah’s Talmadge Bridge, the new bridge’s cable-stayed construction is more stable and allows the necessary greater height for the booming container ship traffic of the Georgia coast.
Near the ghost town of Ogeechee on the Ogeechee River this wooden bridge still stands alongside a newer bridge, built in 1970. I imagine it was a scary trip on the Old Ogeechee Road back in the day, especially during flood stage.
I can’t locate anything about the history of this bridge, but it provides one of the most scenic views in all of South Georgia. Kyle West writes: I worked out there for about 8 years. In fact, I installed the lights on the bridge for the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay. The story of the bridge as was told to me was that it was the original Highway 91 bridge and when the state moved the highway to the present location they were going to demo and Mr. Woodruff bought it from the state to keep them from doing away with it.
The girder style construction is a bit complex for a dirt road and the view as you near the end of the bridge is of the iconic Ichauway Store.
This bridge over the CSX rail line was built in 1989 on Water Works Road. There are several such bridges in Hancock County in various states of repair.
Built by Seaboard Air Line, this bridge has been abandoned for years. It’s located between Omaha, Georgia, and Cottonton, Alabama, and is visible from the Georgia Highway 39 Spur. Jackie Purdy writes that there is another vertical-lift bridge operated by CSX on the Savannah River.
This historic concrete arch bridge, begun in 1915, delayed by World War I, and completed in 1920 as a memorial to its veterans, was a symbol of Albany throughout most of the twentieth century. Though a commendable effort by local preservationists stalled its fate, it was demolished in 2012.
The Altamaha Regional Park began as a fish camp and has grown into a public facility that is well-known to area sportsmen, offering a general store, dock, and campsites and rental cabins.
Several of the older cabins remain on the property, as well as mobile homes.
The South Altamaha Flathead Association was a fishing club that met here at one time. I’m not sure they’re still active.
The fishing is good here, though.
I made this aerial photograph of the park on an assignment with veteran pilot Frank Lee and photographer Mike McCall.
This Pratt/through-truss swing bridge was constructed, likely in the 1930s, by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
The bridge was abandoned by the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in the 1980s.
In the heyday of passenger trains, it carried the Orange Blossom Special and other legendary passenger cars over the Altamaha River.
It’s a popular landmark for boaters traveling down the Altamaha to the coast.
