End of summer season marks potential last summer for Surf City swing bridge
SURF CITY, NC (WWAY) – Since the summer of 1956 it has been the way you got onto Topsail Island from the mainland. Now it’s the end of another summer season and the possible end of an era in Surf City.
If things go the way the contractors want, the new Surf City bridge will open by the beginning of next year. That’s what we heard when the NCDOT hosted a public session on the bridgework back in the spring.
So we decided this Labor Day to talk with the longtime locals who have relied on the bridge as well as reluctantly sit in traffic because of it.
“A bridge like that is iconic, but it’s obsolete with today’s crowds and people. It just causes so many problems,” said One Stop Bait and Tackle shop owner Jeff Warren whose family owned business has sat in front of the bridge for almost as long as the bridge has been there.
He shares the same criticisms as well business that sit along the main drag of Roland Avenue. They often hear from customers about how charming the bridge is and that it maintains a small town feel for the area, however, traversing off the road to a local storefront is a nightmare.
“I’m gonna miss it but I realize that the place has grown tremendously and we do need some relief from the traffic,” Warren added.
On the island side, you hear most of the immediate stores will be glad to see the traffic issue fixed.
“I am excited. I think it will bring more people and less traffic to sit in,” said Katie Lowder who co-owns and operates the Surf City Jet Ski rentals with her husband just behind the Crab Pot.
Lowder’s perspective is a little different from Warren’s. His shop can still be enticing to summer visitors next season because it still sits along highway 210 connecting to the Intracoastal Waterway. Lowder and staff at the Bumblebee Market and Crab Pot are uncertain what their businesses futures will look like.
“I am hesitant because since right now everyone has to come by us to get on to the island so that’s great for business, so I am hesitant to see what that brings,” said Lowder. “I don’t know I guess we will have to up our advertising game a little bit.”
Beyond that, there’s the nostalgia of the bridge neighbors say they will miss. Lowder says the change to the flyover definitely turns the chapter for Surf City as it grows and becomes more of a summer destination.
“It’s definitely going to be sad to see it go,” said Lowder.
The DOT announced in April there would be lane changes around early July, yet those have not been in full effect from what we saw in Surf City. The roundabout is yet to be built yet, however there are signs posted for detours to take place on September 17 along Roland Avenue.
