This is the last bridge over a river you will pass if you're heading north from Hagåtña. Past this point, there are no more rivers to cross. The flat, limestone terrain of northern Guam doesn't allow for the flow of rivers, since the rain percolates straight into the porous rocky soil and forms a huge, underground lake from which a lot of us get our tap water.
A strong, reliable bridge crossing the Hagåtña River going northwards was much more important to the US military in 1944 than before the war. Once Guam was back in American hands from the Japanese, the US still had a whole extra year to finish the entire war with the Japanese.
That was to end in August of 1945, but not before the US bombed Japan with great destruction, largely thanks to the air strips built on Guam, Tinian and Saipan which put American bombers close to Japan. Thus, the port of Apra Harbor in the south and the air fields in the center and north of Guam had to be linked securely. Trucks carrying supplies and bombs had to travel smoothly from naval base to air base, crossing the Hagåtña River.
So, it's no wonder that the American military made building this Hagåtña Bridge a priority and got it done by March of 1945. And it had to be solid, able to take on truck after truck of military arms and equipment.
The bridge still remains, though it has been improved and redone over the years.
What used to be just a few vehicles in the 1950s and 60s has become congested with heavy traffic. And, in the background of the photo, what used to be a few single-story, wood and tin roof buildings has become two or three-storied concrete commercial buildings.
Before the war, that area you just enter after crossing that bridge was the barrio of San Antonio. Hagåtña was divided into half a dozen barrios or districts.
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