The Bull River Bridge is a vital link to Savannah and Tybee Island and the only way to travel between the two cities unless traveling by air or sea. Now, a new website, bullriverbridge.com, offers a “one stop shop” for information regarding the Bull River Bridge Replacement plans.

Concerns about traffic safety (vehicular, pedestrian, and cyclist), congestion, flooding, and hurricane evacuation continue to be among the top reasons that the current bridge needs to be replaced. Despite the more than two decades of studies and meetings, many people still aren’t aware of the original recommended plan for the bridge and the current status of the proposed bridge replacement.

What’s currently known as the Bull River Bridge was actually dedicated as the Frederick Hahn Bridge and opened to traffic in 1967. From the current bridge, travelers can still see portions of the bridge’s predecessor and old Tybee Island roadway to the north. In the 1930s, the portion of US Highway 80 linking Savannah and Tybee Island with the Bull River Bridge was complete. That bridge, which looked like a smaller version of the Talmadge Bridge at the time, served many travelers for several decades.

In the early 2000s, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) said that it was working to relieve congestion, improve traffic conditions and encourage safe transportation on the US 80 bridges and roadway between Tybee Island and the mainland. GDOT also noted that the Bull River and Lazaretto Creek Bridges were part of a designated hurricane evacuation route on the Georgia Hurricane Plan, and a future bikeway in the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Long-Range Plan. The project would replace both bridges with two-lane bridges, including bike and pedestrian improvements, and widen the roadway from Johnny Mercer Boulevard to Old US 80 on Tybee Island for multimodal improvements and enhanced (paved) shoulders.

All through that process and related studies from 2010 until 2016, the best alternative for the Bull River Bridge replacement was to the north of the current bridge. In 2012, after more than two years of studies by professional engineers, as well as review and input by local and state officials and the general public, the decision was clear. A new bridge would be built to the north of the current Bull River Bridge and the Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (CORE MPO) included this project in its 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan.

At the time of the bridge replacement study, the area to the north of the current Bull River Bridge presented the best option for many reasons, including the least amount of environmental impacts. When looking at marsh conservation areas, it’s clear that the areas south of the current bridge (towards Wilmington Island and the Bull River Marina) would be more at risk if the replacement bridge were built to the south rather than to the north. For example, the marsh on the west side of the Bull River Bridge between the bridge and the marina walkway is a designated Department of Natural Resources wetland. It’s important to note that this designation does not extend to the north of the current bridge. The north placement would run entirely through the spoilage area between the current road and the old roadbed of the original Highway 80. In addition to marshlands, the 2012 CORE MPO study's final report noted that “several federally protected species may be affected by any impacts” to the surrounding marsh. Diamondback terrapins, a “species of management of concern,” live in the surrounding marsh.

During a 2016 concept meeting regarding the bridge replacement, there was a comment regarding the constructability of the bridge and how going to the north would make it difficult to construct due to the existing power lines next to the river. This distinguished the final preferred alternative as south at Bull River, north along the causeway, and then north at Lazaretto Creek.

Since Georgia Power has since moved the transmission lines, the Bull River Bridge replacement should be placed to the north, as originally planned after extensive study and public comment. Georgia Power has moved these transmission lines, which removes the constraint cited by GDOT as a reason to change the placement of the bridge from the north to the south. Many area residents believe that the Bull River Bridge Replacement Plans should revert to the previously approved north of the current bridge option rather than the south option.

Regardless of when the new bridge is built, there will be some temporary traffic disruptions during the construction process. That’s generally the case with any construction project. For example, planning for the Islands Expressway Bridge project began in the early 2000s. According to reports, construction of phase one took four years beginning in 2018 and has had numerous delays. The construction of bridge two was supposed to wrap in the summer of 2023, but work was still continuing into the summer of 2024.

For more information about the Bull River Bridge replacement issues, please visit https://bullriverbridge.com/ .