By Starr Munro Riverbend News
The Suwannee River has and continues to affect all communities that live off the river. It has affected everything from commerce and schooling to farming and ranching. It has even affected the very progress of the communities found within Suwannee Valley.
In 1946, a large gap was filled by the building of the historic Hal W. Adams bridge. With State Road 51 being built over the Suwannee River, the very first suspension bridge in Florida was created. Although Florida is a state full of bridges that cross over thousands of different canals, rivers and in-between islands, there had never been a suspension bridge. This was also the first and only bridge to carry highway traffic over a body of water in the state.
On July 4, 1946, the bridge was named after Hal W. Adams of Mayo, a former county judge for the circuit, encompassing Lafayette and Suwannee Counties. In 1909, Hal W. Adams was elected county judge, but he also served three terms as the mayor of Mayo. In 1925 he was appointed to the 3rd circuit court bench and in 1952 he was the judge for the infamous Ruby McCullom trial. Hal Adams never retired and in the year of his death in 1968, Adams had served a total of 60 years as a judge. Adams was the perfect person to name such a bridge after, for he looked after both communities it connected.
The bridge, upon being built, was not only going to fill a gap between two counties that were separated by a large river, but bring the rest of the nation down towards Florida much easier. At the time of its creation, Florida was still slowly becoming all that it was capable of being. The Hal W. Adams bridge helped change the state into what it has become today, a place where people from all over, come to relax, enjoy the sunshine and get away from a fast-paced lifestyle.
Hal W. Adams bridge is 687 feet long, consisting of riveted steel towers, that make up a truss bridge. Interesting architectural features include a rare small-scale span length of only 420 feet. The main cable, rather than being a single unit with wrapping, is composed of eight separate and bare wire cables and the anchor eye-bars are not enclosed. A boat launch area at the southern end of the bridge has great views of the bridge and the mighty Suwannee River that are worth seeing.