The Sidney Lanier Bridge is located at the entrance to the harbor at Brunswick, Georgia. It replaces an earlier lift bridge. Given that 20 large ships enter or exit the harbor each day, the lift bridge was often closed for many hours each day. In shrimping season, the bridge would be raised many more times. As a result, traffic across the old bridge was often backed up.

Another key reason for building a new bridge is that many modern ocean going ships are larger than what the old lift bridge would allow. That prevented Brunswick from competing on a global scale. In fact, two ships struck the old lift bridge, causing 10 deaths and resulting in the bridge being closed for many months.

The new Lanier Bridge has the appearance of the classic bridge to nowhere. It sits on a small loop of road only a few miles from I-95. In fact, you can see the bridge from I-95. There are several alternate routes, and plenty of exits on I-95, so the bridge only saves a mile or two of travel. I was surprised at how high the traffic count was compared with the few cars that I saw on the bridge. In comparison to other major Cable Stayed bridges, the 11,500 traffic count is relatively small. Then again, the bridge is still very new, so time will tell.

The bridge was named after Georgia poet Sidney Lanier, whose poem The Marshes Of Glynn is set in Brunswick and describes the vast open saltwater marshes in Glynn County.