Four score and seven thousand walk Lincoln bridge

JEFFERSONVILLE, IN (WAVE) - Frozen in the fog for 12 hours.

"I got here last night about 9:30, stayed at Hardee's, in my car for awhile," said one of the men in line.

"I called a taxi cab at first, waited 40 minutes, taxi never came, so I canceled it and got on TARC," said another. "I just wanted to be here first, try to get a medallion. That's all I want is a medallion."

We don't get together often like this in our community, because a river runs through it.

[RELATED: Public invited to walk the Lincoln Bridge on Saturday]

"It's the first river crossing at the falls of the Ohio in 52 years," announced Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear.

[SLIDESHOW: Walk the Abraham Lincoln Bridge]

"I've lived here for 52 years," announced the woman next to me.

"How much pain has traffic been?" I asked.

"I got me a job on this side in Indiana so I don't go across unless I'm shopping," she replied.

After decades of red tape, they cut one.

Politicians took turns taking credit. Some worked longer than others.

"The first time I spoke to the Secretary of Transportation in Washington D.C. about this bridge, she was Elizabeth Dole in 1987, under Ronald Reagan, so we have been talking and dreaming forever," said former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.

Everywhere you turned, cameras were hoisted high. Everyone had a story to tell.

"I think it's a phenomenal bridge, incredible how people put all this together. I'm doing a book. That's why I'm finishing up photos for it," said author Steven Bullock.

The opening of the Abraham Lincoln Bridge brought every Abe impersonator this side of the Mason Dixon line.

"How much work has to go into the look, or is it all natural?" I asked one Lincoln impersonator.

"All natural, except the coloring of the beard, have to darken it a little bit," he said.

Then I met a man dressed as Santa Claus.

"I realized Santa has a lot in common with Abe Lincoln," he said. "We are tall, bearded, icons, revered, and we both lived in a white house."

The thousands of people walking the Lincoln bridge had better enjoy this day while they have the opportunity. It won't be long before they charge to use the bridge, anywhere from two to four dollars per passenger vehicle, depending on whether you get the transponder.
 
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