For the first four episodes of The Walking Dead the bridge represented the future, but now in the future the bridge lies in ruin. What does that mean?
Rick Grimes was the champion of the bridge on The Walking Dead. During the season 9 premiere Rick touted the bridge’s importance for the communities, saying that it would help to speed up travel and increase trade. Now that Rick is gone and six years have passed, the bridge looks the same as it did the day Rick blew it up to save the communities, and this says a great deal about the state of community relations and the passage of time.
The bridge was symbolic of the future. The future that Rick saw, the one that Carl outlined in his letters, was one where the communities worked together to rebuild civilization. Ezekiel noted that bridges are the cornerstone of civilization as they link roads and trade routes. The bridge was also a chance for the communities to work together and even though it was hard to keep people happy, the job was getting done.
Now it looks as though there is no longer any unity between the communities, not to mention that the Sanctuary fell apart, and so the prospect of building another bridge doesn’t seem likely. Everything is separate, and coming together for a common goal isn’t easy when there’s no leadership. Without a driving force behind it, like the motivation and encouragement Rick provided, the bridge now stands as a memorial to the man who “died” trying to make it a reality.
Though it’s possible another bridge has been built somewhere else, it’s just not likely. Given how much trouble it was to wrangle work forces on the first bridge, and considering that the Sanctuary has now fallen apart, it’s not likely that another bridge has been erected somewhere else. Rick kept the hope for a bridge alive and it looks like that hope fell apart when the bridge collapsed.
Incidentally, it looks like a lot of things fell apart after Rick disappeared. As we learn more about what happened over the past six years we’re bound to discover the reason why the bridge was never finished and the explanation will no doubt say a lot about what happened after they lost Rick.