In 1989, a cable-stayed bridge opened over the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. The sign that appears on the right side of the road says “Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge,” but there are many local residents who have never called it that.
They call it the “Dames Point Bridge,” so named since the north end touches the shore at Dames Point.
The two-mile long structure rises one hundred and seventy-five feet above the river channel to connect the areas of New Berlin and Gilmore. Part of the Florida 9A Highway, the bridge helps complete a circle around the city with I-295. To those living at the beaches, it’s the fastest way out of Jacksonville in the event of a hurricane evacuation.
There are some in the city who won’t cross the bridge, even in an emergency. The city is even known to periodically close the bridge with the reason credited to “high winds.” Some who do use it complain about feelings of dread just after crossing the north end over Dames Point.
Bit by bit, evidence of the existence of an entire community is disappearing, as if Dames Point itself was being “stricken from every book and tablet.”
