South Carolina motorists who drive over coastal drawbridges have experienced the frustration of an unexpected delay when a bridge opens at what seems to be the most inconvenient time.
It was a frequent occurrence for Beaufort app developer Alex Holroyde who on one occasion was late picking up his four daughters from school when the Woods Memorial Bridge over the Beaufort River swung open.
In Beaufort, Holroyde said, drivers have a saying: “I got stuck by the bridge,” a span that made a cameo in the movie Forrest Gump.
To fix the problem, Holroyde designed a bridge app for smart phones that warns motorists when a bridge unexpectedly pops open to allow drivers to adjust their routes. The app also displays a bridge’s scheduled openings.
The app is available in Charleston, Beaufort and Myrtle Beach. In Charleston, the app monitors the Ben Sawyer bridge to Sullivan’s Island, the Wappoo Cut drawbridge between West Ashley and James Island, and the two drawbridges along U.S. Highway 17 over the Ashley River in Charleston. In Myrtle Beach, the app provides information about the Little River, Socastee and Barefoot bridges.
The app gives more than real-time information on bridge openings, he said. The app also has weather and tide information, community events and news from the Charleston City Paper, he added.
So far, the app has 5,000 users in Beaufort, 1,300 in Charleston and 2,700 in Myrtle Beach, Holroyde said.
After Holroyde developed the app for Beaufort, he partnered with Dylan Roukous of Charleston to develop and market an app for Charleston and Myrtle Beach.
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