Bailey Island Bridge Case Study

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The Bailey Island Bridge is located in Harpswell, Maine on Route 24. Before the making of the bridge, the fishermen that lived on Bailey’s Island wanted a bridge that connected their island to Orr’s Island. The town of Harpsweell made and voted on their decisions in the weekly town meetings (“Bailey”). The project was stalled because of some of the mainlanders in the town, but it was brought back up for discussion in 1912. They first agreed on a “road” which would connect the two islands and would be constructed with timber. This was to cost $3,000. The cost quickly reached $25,000 at a later town meting because they decided to build the bridge with stone and concrete instead. Once the legislature decided to pass a bill stating that it would fun state’s highway and bridge projects, they decided to move forward with the project (Hansen, 36). This bridge was necessary to the people of Harpswell due to the weather changes making it impossible for the fishermen and their families to cross from island to island. They used their fishing boats when the weather cooperated, but when storms arose and when the water …show more content…

Not only has it been a huge cultural monument, but it also has changed the economy of the area. The area no revolves so much on tourism and that is where a lot of their money comes from. Originally, all they wanted was access to the mainland because the people were struggling to get by, but once the bridge was made things changed in a different way. This brought a lot of tourism to the area that they were not originally expecting. This was a necessity of the people and turned out to be a great addition to their area once the bridge was made. There was a lot of talk and it took awhile to pass the building of the bridge, but in the end they made a good decision to build the bridge. This bridge is also very unique in it’s own way, being one of the only bridge’s built in this

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