MANAHAWKIN – For Toni Cranmer Sanger, the miles separating her current home in the state of Washington from her Mayetta roots haven’t diminished her connection to her hometown. In keeping up with the local news, Sanger stumbled upon our article “The Stories Behind Ocean County’s Bridge to Nowhere.”
As she read the headline, Sanger instantly felt a spark of recognition and interest in the story. The Bridge to Nowhere wasn’t just a local landmark – it was a piece of her own personal history.
“My father is the one who built the bridge,” said Sanger with confidence.
For years, the “Bridge to Nowhere” in Ocean County has stood as a silent sentinel, its purpose shrouded in mystery. Speculations have swirled around its origins, attributing its construction as a connection to AT&T receiver towers or an additional route to Long Beach Island.
However, these theories should be laid to rest, thanks to Sanger’s insightful revelation concerning her late father’s work.
Sanger said that her father, who died in 1978, played a prominent role as a general contractor in the region during the construction of Beach Haven West. The trucks and equipment utilized by his company proudly displayed the name, A.L. Cranmer, with the initials representing Ashbrook Lewis.
“Everyone knew him as ‘Cy’ though,” Sanger shared. “He was one of the big builders to go in and level the area with bulldozers and cranes.”
Sanger recalled her father’s duck hunting cabin in the meadows near the location of the bridge. As a child, Sanger said she and her family took a boat to the area of the cabin. At some point, she learned that her father’s company had been contracted by the Shapiro family to build the bridge.
The late Herbert Shapiro, who passed away last month at the age of 100, left a lasting legacy as a key figure in sparking development in southern Ocean County. Alongside his brother, he laid the groundwork for Beach Haven West in the 1950s.
According to Sanger’s recollections, the intended function of the new bridge was to connect with a similar development on the opposite side of the bay. However, the project never materialized, and numerous individuals have attributed its failure to the perceived impossibility of construction due to more stringent environmental regulations in that area. Sanger estimated the bridge’s origin as dating back to the late 1960s.
Memorial Stone
New details have also emerged concerning questions about a memorial stone inscribed with the name Russo. It is located adjacent to what is colloquially known as the Road to Nowhere, given its dead-end connection to the Bridge to Nowhere.
The memorial stone designates the location where 17-year-old Jennifer Lynn Russo of Barnegat tragically lost her life, her car submerged in water off the roadway. Jennifer, the only child of Gerard “Jerry” and Mary Russo, was a junior at Southern Regional High School when the accident occurred on the night before Easter, April 15, 1995.
“It was a gravel road back then, and they think Jennifer was speeding too fast,” shared Jerry. “She was in a Ford Escort, and her shoulder harness jammed. As a result, she drowned.”
“At the time, there was a class action suit against Ford, and different people told us to get involved,” Jerry continued. “But we wanted no part of the constant reminders.”
The choice to install the memorial stone at the accident site stemmed from a conversation Jennifer had with her mother and father several months before her untimely passing. Leaving a family member’s funeral, Jennifer questioned why everyone was in tears when returning home (to God) was supposed to be something joyful.
During the conversation, Jennifer said she wished that her parents had more than one child, sharing her reluctance to go through such sorrow with them. She also gave them instructions in case she should die.
“Don’t put me in pink,” Jennifer reportedly told her mom and dad. “And don’t put me in the ground.”
Honoring their daughter’s wishes, Jennifer’s final resting place was originally planned for eternity in a mausoleum at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Barnegat. However, the pain of losing their only child resulted in Mary wanting to return to her hometown in Idaho.
Jerry credited the Riggs Funeral Home with making the arrangements that allowed Jennifer’s remains to go with her mother to Idaho. The heartbroken father also said that Riggs and former Stafford Mayor Carl Block for setting up the placement of the memorial stone.
“The mayor’s daughter was Jennifer’s dear friend,” said Jerry. “They were both instrumental in getting barriers put up in that part of the road and getting us permission for us to have the stone put there.”
The loss of a child is something no parent wants to experience. The lives of those Jennifer left behind are forever changed.
“I go down there every now and then,” Jerry shared. “My daughter loved sunflowers – so I buy a sunflower and leave it at her stone.”
