BUTTE LA ROSE, La. (KLFY) – Butte La Rose residents are saying goodbye to a historic pontoon bridge. The St. Martin Parish president says the bridge is too old and must be replaced.

Though the bridge is becoming unsafe, residents say it’s special and historic, and they’re sad to see it go.

“It’s a piece of history, and it means everything. When I come back from work, and I get to the levee, I see the bridge. It’s like I’m home,” local resident Jimmy Scallan said. Scallan says the pontoon bridge has been been here for over 70 years, and it’s special to the people of Butte La Rose. “The bridge obviously needs to be replace,” he said, as people drove behind him shouting, “Don’t shut it down!”

“If you ask anybody say one thing about the community, and they’ll say the pontoon bridge. It’s important to everybody, as you just saw,” Scallan said laughing. Although many residents love their historic pontoon bridge, St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars says it’s rotten and unrepairable.

“We’re not going to put a Band-Aid on the problem because when I put a Band-Aid on the problem, I just kick the can down the road. I have been told on several occasions by the experts, by the bridge engineers, this bridge cannot be sufficiently rehabilitated. It needs and must be replaced,” Cedars said.

Cedars says, however, the bridge won’t be totally lost. “We want to salvage the structure or at least as much of it as possible so that it can be placed somewhere in the community as a historical marker, either as a band stand or a wharf or a pier,” he told News Ten. For residents like Jimmy Scallan, who plans to keep a piece of the bridge as well, that means a lot. “It’s the essence of the community, of Butte La Rose,” he said.