Photos of a major shore crossing …
Since the first bridge was opened in 1872, a total of four fixed crossings have connected northern Sea Bright with western Highlands.
Today, the bridge is part of Route 36, the NJ state highway that spans the Shrewsbury River. Officially, it’s called the Captain Joseph Azzolina Memorial Bridge, dedicated in May 2011 to honor the longtime NJ state legislator, US Navy officer, and Bayshore businessman and advocate.
The first bridge, an 18-foot wide wooden structure built for $35,000, opened in December 1872 and lasted only a few years. The second river-crossover, a wood-steel swing bridge, opened in 1878. The third bridge, a steel-and-concrete 1,200-foot drawbridge costing $650,000, opened in September 1933 and operated until 2009. The current fourth bridge is 65-feet high and made of concrete with a fixed span. The massive and majestic $138 million structure opened in stages and was fully completed in 2012.
• Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge Images — HERE

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s. Note the Twin Lights in the hills of Highlands.

Air Support — Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Summer 2023 (StansPhotos).

“Highlands of the Navesink,” 1872. Granville Perkins engraving.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, late 1980s (David Enny Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1917.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1968.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1970s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge sketch, 1940s.

Draw Bridge at Highlands of Navesink, NJ”

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1990 (Stanley Kosinski Photo).

Open Up — Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Red Bank Register, August 1974.

Taking the Dive — Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Red Bank Register, August 1974.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1970s (Walt Guenther Photo). In front is “Bridge Beach” in Highlands.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1970s (Rich Galiano Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1870s. When it was a walking wooden overpass.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1985.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1909.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1954.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1932.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2010s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1905.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020 (Bartlett Lentini Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1912.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020. Officially, it’s the “Captain Joseph Azzolina Memorial Bridge.”

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge sketch, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, March 2023 (Diane Elvira Norgord Loux Photo).

View of Highlands from Sea Bright, 1875. At far right is the first walking bridge built in 1872.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Spring 2022 (Walt Bilous Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Spring 2008. Breaking ground for a new bridge to the right (Nick Lenczyk Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2010s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge aerial image, 1933 (Michael McCann Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, about 1960 (John Schneider Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge under construction, 1932 (Rick Geffken Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1906.

Grand Times — Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1899. Standing in the Highlands foreground are workers for Guglielmo Marconi, who was in the area inventing wireless communication.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1990s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1940s.

New Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge under construction, early 1930s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge seen from the Highlands side, 1900. Note the seashore mansions in Sea Bright and Highland Beach beyond the bridge.

Train passing over the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1910s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge: “Cold Sweat” by Ronnie Jackson, 2009 — MORE INFO.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, December 2022 (StansPhotos).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2015.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge at sunset with the NYC skyline glowing in the background, December 2022 (Ed Moldaver Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, January 2023 (Kevin Dunwoodie Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge entrance during Nor’easter storm, December 1992 (Timothy Boulous Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1918.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge with a Central Railroad of NJ train crossing, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, March 2023 (Angel Rodman Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge with Twins Lights in the Highlands hills, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge painting (CarvinArt).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge seen from Highlands, Fall 2021.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Winter 2021 (Brian Allen Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge at dawn, October 2022 (Dawn Abbey Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2022.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Fall 2022.

SS Little Silver passing through the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1910.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge under construction, 2009.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1970s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1950s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge from the Highlands side, early 1900s.

Atlantic Highlands, NJ postcard, 1960s. Showing the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge at the top connected to NJ State Highway Route 36 going north through the Bayshore.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1890s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge looking at Twin Lights, early 1900s postcard.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2021

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2006.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1883.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1990s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge and Twin Lights above, 2022 (Stanley Kosinski Photo).

From Sandy Hook looking south to the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1960.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1950s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge and Sandy Hook beyond, 2020.

The new “million-dollar” Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge seen from the Highlands side, 1936.

Jersey Shore Gateway — Motorists head southeast on Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Summer 2022.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2019.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge looking at Twin Lights, 1907.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge seen from Highlands, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge with a peek at the NYC skyline, August 2022.

The SS Albertina paddle-boat passing through the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, July 1888. The boat — a flat-bottomed, side-wheeler — was owned by Merchants Steamboat Company (formed in in December 1880). The boat was destroyed in a May 1932 fire. The borough of Fair Haven, NJ uses an Albertina image in its town seal.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge seen from Highlands, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1950s.

View of the Highland Beach resort from the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1920s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2016 (StansPhotos). Officially, it’s the “Captain Joseph Azzolina Memorial Bridge.”

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1980s.

Highlands seen from Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Summer 2022.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1975. Taking the leap.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1907.

Johnson’s Pharmacy on the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1910. Grandin Johnson was the “enterprising druggist.” Born in Howell in 1877 and a New York College of Pharmacy graduate, he also bought the Sea Bright Pharmacy in 1918. He confessed to embezzling $11,000 from Highlands in 1939 — where he’d been the tax collector for 32 years. He died in Trenton State prison in 1940.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1907.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1890s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1990s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1960s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1987.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge and Twin Lights, 1960s postcard.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Spring 2022 (Walt Bilous Photo). Seen from Twin Lights.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1950s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2000s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1988.

“Highland Lights” and the “Walking Bridge” in 1872.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge (upper left), 1930s. Also a busy Sandlass Baths beach club.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge. The “bird’s eye view” is from Twin Lights, 1920s.

Steamship passing through the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2022.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1895.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge looking east at Highland Beach, Summer 1907.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge postcard, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge in time lapse, Feb. 2022 (StansPhotos).

View of the Navesink Twin Lights from Sea Bright prior to bridge construction, before 1872. The lighthouse with non-identical towers opened in 1862.

View of Twin Lights from bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1940s. Seen from Highland Beach.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1870s. The first bridge connecting Sea Bright and Rumson was made of wood and was for foot traffic and horses.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, F. W. Beers map 1873.

Night Vision: Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2022 (Stanley Kosinski Photo).

From the H-SB Bridge and beyond — Sandy Hook aerial image, December 2021 (Brain Allen Photo).

SS Little Silver passing through the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1910.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Summer 2021 (Robert Tyler Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1892.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge crossing, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge and Sea Bright seen from Twin Lights in Highlands, Fall 2021.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, Fall 2021.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1920s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge sketch, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge seen from Twin Lights, 1900.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge beginning construction, mid-1930s. It was called the “Million Dollar Bridge.”

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2010s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s (Les Horner Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1930s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1900.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge on the Highlands side, 1900.

SS Thomas Patten passes through the open Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1920s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge open, August 1995.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1980s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2014 (MAC Photography).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1960.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge with World War I monument on the Highlands side, 1937.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020 (John Schneider Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2021 (Chris Capone Photo).

NYC skyline seen from the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020 (Capture808 Photography).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2021 (Capture808 Photography).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2012.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge looking east, 1907.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge sketch. Long Branch Daily Record, July 1951.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2021 (Capture808 Photography).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1950s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2021 (Robert Tyler Photo).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2019.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2012.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020

Twin Lights viewed from Sea Bright, Owen Melody painting, 1991.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge under construction, 2009.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge — with a Twin Lights sentinel. (Stanley Kosinski Photo), 2019.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge stretches into the Hartshorne Woods Heights and the night, 2020.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge after a snow, 2019.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1871 (note the horse crap on the bridge).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge amidst clouds, 2020 (StansPhotos).

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2019. (Bart Lentini Photography)

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge in the distance, 2020.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2015.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge at night, 2010s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2020.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, July 4, 2019.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2019.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2018.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2000s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2010.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 2000s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1966.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1961.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1960.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1954.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1953.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1940.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1930s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1920s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1920s.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1907.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1906.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1906.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1906.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, 1895.

Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, early 1900s.