Mystery man who campaigned against Savannah bridge replacement plan unmasked

Topping the list of likely suspects were anti-establishment activists and environmentalists, two groups frequently at odds with the entity behind the push to replace the bridge, the Georgia Ports Authority. The authority underwrote the $10 million study that recommended the new river crossing be in the same place as the current bridge.

The favorite, though, was Reed Dulany, an influential Savannah industrialist. He’d long advocated for a bridge or tunnel in an alternative location and has business interests downriver near another potential crossing point. He has also openly feuded with the state-owned ports authority, which pulled out of a deal to build a terminal on a Dulany-owned site in 2017 and then in 2022 protested and ultimately squashed a proposal to turn that same property into a privately operated port.

Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC

Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC

On Thursday, Dulany confirmed himself as the man behind abridgetoofarsav.org in a commentary published in the Savannah Morning News. In the piece, which he submitted Friday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dulany states he became alarmed when he learned of a public comment period regarding the bridge plans “and nearly no one knew it was happening,” a reference to GDOT announcing the feedback opportunity and an open house through a post on its website and social media channels and without a notification to the media.

“I immediately started the ‘A Bridge Too Far’ campaign to raise people’s awareness,” Dulany wrote. “Since my years of efforts to socialize this idea seemed to have fallen short and time was limited, I thought a public campaign might help alert people to what was happening. This effort seems to have worked as people are finally talking about it.”

The Georgia Department of Transportation has been studying and planning the replacement of the Talmadge Bridge since Georgia Ports Authority CEO Griff Lynch called for the bridge’s removal in 2018. Lynch voiced concerns about the ability of next-generation cargo ships to access port terminals located upriver from the span’s height.

The authority operates the third-busiest port in the United States and currently has two cargo container terminals — with a third under construction — on the upriver side of the span, meaning ships must pass beneath the bridge when arriving and departing the port.

The process to replace the bridge started with a feasibility study that explored 27 replacement options. The report went public in December and received broad attention, particularly for the price tags of its recommendations: $1.17 billion for a new, 230-foot-high bridge and $2 billion for a two-tube tunnel.

Dulany questioned that plan with local government officials soon after the study was published. Contacted Friday and asked why he kept his identity as the source of the mailer secret for three weeks, Dulany said he didn’t want his history in pushing for a new crossing in a different location and his clashes with the Georgia Ports Authority to distract from the message.

“I have been promoting this idea (of an alternative bridge location) fully and openly to anyone who would listen since 2019,” Dulany said. “I wanted the campaign to stay focused on the issue itself and make people aware of what was going on so they had a chance to comment.”

Scott Higley, GDOT’s director of strategic communications, said the agency is currently engaged in responding to the feedback received during the public comment period, which also featured a sparsely attended open house at Savannah’s Coastal Georgia Center. He said the agency received about 800 comments.

Public engagement will continue through the summer and fall, with GDOT officials meeting with neighborhood associations, environmental groups and other stakeholders. Project manager Chandra Brown said GDOT will use those responses to narrow the focus to a “single preferred alternative” and solicit public feedback on that option in fall 2025.

A Georgia Ports Authority official referred all questions about the bridge replacement project to GDOT and declined to comment on the “A Bridge Too Far” campaign.

Credit: AJC

Credit: AJC

Dulany’s self-unmasking addresses concerns voiced earlier this month by a pair of Savannah lawmakers. State House Reps. Jesse Petrea, a Republican, and Anne Allen Westbrook, a Democrat, called for the party responsible for the mailers and website to step forward so citizens would know if the source of the campaign had a special interest or was just a concerned citizen.

Dulany is both. His business interests are located near one of the multiple sites explored as part of GDOT’s feasibility study, at the north end of Savannah’s Truman Parkway. As a community leader he’s pushed for the crossing in a place that would allow for the restoration of the connection between Savannah’s core and its westside neighborhoods, which was severed with the building of the original bridge.

He notes that each end of the preferred new river crossing links directly to Georgia Ports Authority facilities, Ocean Terminal to the south and the planned Hutchinson Island terminal to the north.

“Tell me one good thing that replacing the river crossing where it stands today does for our city?” Dulany said. “Not GPA, but our city?”