Snow-Reed Swing Bridge, Swing bridge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
The Snow-Reed Swing Bridge is a steel truss swing bridge with a span of about 100 feet, crossing the North Fork of the New River between Sailboat Bend and Riverside Park. Its deck pivots on a ring gear at the base, driven by an electric motor, to let boats pass. A plaque on the northwest abutment records its 1924-25 construction by the Champion Bridge Company of Wilmington, Ohio.
The bridge was erected in 1924-25 by the Champion Bridge Company of Wilmington, Ohio, replacing a swing bridge moved here from Andrews Avenue in 1916. Ordering and building spanned the terms of mayors E.G. Snow and Will J. Reed, whose names it took in 1989, when it was designated a historic landmark.
The bridge carries the names of two Fort Lauderdale mayors, E.G. Snow and Will J. Reed, who were in office when it was being built in the mid-1920s. This naming choice reflects the city's way of honoring local leaders involved in the area's growth.
The bridge operates twenty-four hours a day and rotates whenever river traffic needs to pass through. Pedestrians and vehicle drivers should expect brief traffic pauses when vessels approach the span.
The structure was once operated entirely by hand-cranking before receiving a gas motor in 1930. The switch to electrical power in the 1950s modernized its mechanics, which remain in use today.
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