Holden Beach Bridge

For those that love this beautiful bridge here are some fun facts about this breath taking curved bridge.

Fun Facts

• The bridge was completed in June of 1986.
• The new bridge began construction in June of 1984 and only took two years to complete.
• The bridge cost 4.1 million to build.
• The bridge that was replaced was a turn table type bridge that required a bridge tender.
• The bridge closes once a year for the NC Festival by the Sea to allow guests to walk back and forth over the bridge in the morning.
• Spring of 2019 repairs and updates began to ensure the safety of the bridge and to install a 4 foot high rail system for walkers and bikers.
• The 1,800-foot long, high-level, fixed structure, built by the NC Department of Transportation,  consists of 20 approach spans of Type III & IV prestressed concrete AASHTO girders and 3 channel spans of prestressed, precast box girders.  
• The channel span lengths are 86 feet, 117 feet and 100 feet.
• This bridge structure features compound curvature in horizontal alignment in order to accommodate rigorous geometrical constraints imposed by Intracoastal Waterway vertical clearance and alignment on existing NC 130.  The vertical geometry consists of both crest and sag vertical curvature and varying superelevation.
• Channel bents were designed with an integral fender system.
• The engineer was URS Corporation out of Raleigh, NC
• The vertical clearance over the Intracoastal Waterway channel is 65 feet from mean high water  (the U.S. Coast Guard’s requirement for minimum vertical clearance)
• To reach the required vertical clearance over the main channel at Holden Beach, the bridge had to turn to allow enough room to tie it to the elevation on the island (otherwise, the slope would have been too steep intersecting with Ocean Blvd).
• The “retaining wall” is actually a barrier rail, constructed to meet the design standards in effect in 1985 when the bridge was built.
• The Holden Beach Police Department controls access to the Holden Beach Bridge.