Old-Fashioned Drawbridge 

 Dwindling Along Coast 



By Ann Green 



The Great Dividers: 



■erched in a tiny wood building high on the edge of the 

 WrightsviUe Beach bridge, Nancy Cayton focuses her binoculars 

 south toward the Intracoastal Waterway. 



As she spots a large sailboat, she's interrupted by a radio call. 

 The captain asks her to delay the opening until he arrives. 



"If you can be within the half-mile marker, I can hold," 

 responds Cayton, a bridge tender at the WrightsviUe bridge. 



After seeing that the sailboat is going to make the marker in 

 time, Cayton lets the other captain know that he will have a four- 

 minute delay. 



As the two large sailboats near the bridge, she bends over a 

 console that controls electronic devices, stretching her elbows up 

 like a flying bird. 



After pushing several buttons, a siren horn sounds. Gates drop 

 down to stop traffic to and from the beach. Then the bridge splits in 

 two pieces. Within a few seconds, Cayton waves as a 25-foot 

 sailboat from the Isle of Palms, S.C., motors through the bridge 

 opening. The boat continues on the dark green water of the 

 picturesque Intracoastal Waterway past pastel-colored buildings and 

 marinas. 



"I talk to people all over the United States," she says. "It is an 

 interesting job." 



Every hour, Cayton opens the creaky green bridge for 

 recreational boat traffic. 



As the bridge splits, the gears grind. The traffic halts on both 

 sides of the 90-foot horizontal span. "If a malfunction occurs, I have 

 to go to the old way and open the bridge manually," she says. 



About four minutes later, Cayton stands at the console and 

 closes the bridge. A siren goes off five times. The bridge sections fit 

 back together. The gates open, and traffic roars by. Access to and 

 from the island is restored. 



The WrightsviUe Bridge, which stradles the Intracoastal 

 Waterway, is one of only 12 coastal drawbridges still maintained on 

 North Carolina's coast by the N.C Department of Transportation. 



Built in 1957, the steel and asphalt drawbridge also opens any 

 time a commercial boat comes through. 



"There's not much commercial traffic here," says Cayton, who 

 is dressed in jeans, a jean jacket and tennis shoes. "We get only a 

 few tugs and trawlers this time of year." 



As a bridge operator for over 20 years, Cayton has seen her 

 share of recreational and commercial boats. 



Continued 



The WrightsviUe Beach bridge opens wide, flu't.i by Scolt I). Taylor 



12 SPRING 2001 



