Bridges do not last forever, and many are eventually sent for scrap. South Carolina chose a different fate for an old Highway 41 bridge in 2017. After carrying traffic over the Wando River near Charleston since 1939, the steel span was repurposed as part of an offshore artificial reef, where it provides habitat for marine life. The steel swing bridge once connected Mount Pleasant with the area near the Francis Marion National Forest across the Wando River. It measured 168 feet (about 51 metres) in length. After the replacement bridge opened, the old span was cleaned and attached to a retired barge. The combined structure was taken about 50 miles (80 kilometres) off Charleston and deployed in more than 300 feet (91 metres) of water as part of the South Carolina Memorial Reef. It was placed on the seabed rather than buried beneath sediment, adding hard structure and habitat to a previously sandy stretch of ocean floor.
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