What It Takes to Open a Swing Bridge

What’s it take to open a seldom-used swing bridge for a shantyboat?

Turns out, it takes a skid steer, a hydraulic auger, a custom-fabbed attachment, a couple police cars, and a utility boat. Oh, and one absolute hero named Andre from the Louisiana Department of Transportation.

We radioed ahead thinking it might be a button press. Turns out, it’s more like opening a vault. And yet—there it went, creaking open over Bayou Teche like it’s 1923 again.

Sometimes, the journey only continues because someone shows up and says, “Yeah, I can make that work.”