My bridge...

 As my regular readers know, I feel very possessive about the Veterans' Memorial Bridge' across the St. Mary's River where Lafayette becomes Spy Run. I have watched, and taken pictures of, all of the stages of construction since they started tearing apart and then rebuilding the bridge, beginning almost a year and a half ago.  I have had an excellent view from my tenth floor balcony, a front row seat so to speak. Tonight was the grand finale / dedication / opening.  The mayor spoke, a three volley salute was fired, the National Anthem was sung, the flag was raised, there were a couple of honor guards and a good number of veterans and other people in attendance.  My GPP and I watched much of the action from my balcony which seemed appropriate and allowed us to sit down, but we made it down to street level in time to see the lights come on.  That is what I've been waiting for.  It is a beautiful bridge, and walking across it reminded me of one of the great features of my new bridge.  The walkways on each side are twice as wide as they used to be and have an attractive and very sturdy barrier between pedestrians and vehicles.  It feels so safe.  Kudos to the architects, engineers and construction workers who brought this project to completion.

This picture was taken August 16, 2022, when they were in the process of striping the old bridge down to the beams.  They had been doing prep work, like pouring that bed of gravel on the right into the river for months before. 

And here's the bridge now, finished and all lit up.  I will never be able to stand in the middle of the street safely to get another shot like this, but you can enjoy it any time you drive across the bridge at night.

This is the best shot I could manage of the memorial plaza and flag at the south end of the bridge.  The next time you're at Hall's Gas House or the Deck, it's worth taking a quick walk to the corner to check this out.