Pssst! Hey, Buddy! Wanna Buy a Bridge???

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

The Village of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin has a bridge they would like to sell you, for the enormous sum of One Dollar.

Maybe you could offer it as a host special?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3911346.

 

[climbercanoe3]

No, but I'll buy an "s".For a little while I was on a covered bridge kick. There are a ton of covered bridges in NH. I'll have to go and see if I can find any pictures I took of them. It was before I had the digital camera so they are in an album or box somewhere.
I looked at the bridge website you posted and I am familiar with a ton of the MA bridges. Maybe I will have to start a new mission of taking pictures of the MA ones.

 

[janetupnorth]

Hey KG - read the comments on the article - someone asked if this is like the bridge to nowhere? Remember that one? That could start a whole different conversation on highway construction, downtown Milwaukee and the Blues Brothers...

 

[chefann]

My house has a door to nowhere. From the second floor.
As Bugs Bunny says, "Watch that first step, it's a doozy!"

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

No, but I'll buy an "s".


For a little while I was on a covered bridge kick. There are a ton of covered bridges in NH. I'll have to go and see if I can find any pictures I took of them. It was before I had the digital camera so they are in an album or box somewhere.
I looked at the bridge website you posted and I am familiar with a ton of the MA bridges. Maybe I will have to start a new mission of taking pictures of the MA ones.

A great quantity of the bridges documented in Pennsylvania are covered bridges. I'm especially fond of the through trusses, like this little one in Soldiers Grove. I found a really cute little through truss just south of Huntsville, Alabama, just recently closed.

Sometimes, they get saved. This rare Stearns Truss bridge was located in Gilmore, Indiana. Notice that it has no deck. "Watch that last step - it's a Lulu!")

http://bridgehunter.com/in/pulaski/gilmore/overview.jpg

It was removed, restored and re-placed over the Wabash & Erie Canal in Delphi, Indiana. This photo, by Jennifer Archibald, ran in the Carol County Comet.

Meanwhile, the Zoarville Station Bridge, a Fink Truss built in 1868 By Smith, Latrobe and Company of Baltimore, Maryland, was removed, restored and rededicated in Tuscarawas County, Ohio in September of this year.

In Cedarburg, Wisconsin, there is a restored truss bridge that used to carry an interurban electric railroad that ran from Milwaukee to Port Washington. The bridge was restored and today carries a bike trail that follows the old interurban alignment.

I love to see old stuff restored and reused, but especially old bridges like these. They are irreplaceable! I think it's great to let future generations see and experience what history is like.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

My house has a door to nowhere. From the second floor.
As Bugs Bunny says, "Watch that first step, it's a doozy!"

In this case, it's "Watch that LAST step."

The Bellaire Bridge, over the Ohio River from Moundsville, WV to Bellaire, OH has been closed since 1991. This is the Ohio end - it was lopped off to make room for Ohio Highway 7. A hearing is being held on December 19 to determine the future of this old beauty - and I don't think it's going to be a happy result for fans of old bridges.

 

[baychef]

I love to see old stuff restored and reused....

Like Joan Rivers and Cher?

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I love to see old stuff restored and reused....

Like Joan Rivers and Cher?

OR what about Wayne Newton?

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

They've probably all had bridge work.

 

[baychef]

Certainly they have had their trusses worked on.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Another bridge for sale and Other Bridges of InterestThe Passeo bridge in Kansas City is for sale, to be relocated:

http://bridgehunter.com/mo/jackson/paseo/west-side.jpg

Many municipalities and counties have abandoned/about to be adandoned bridges that they would like to dispose of.

My friend, Prof. Kevin Patrick of Indiana University of Pennsylvania says that bridges are expensive to build, expensive to maintain and expensive to remove. One would like to think that abandoned bridges are being preserved for posterity but the truth is that it is very expensive to remove an unwanted bridge. Many great old bridges, of significant historical interest, are just sitting there waiting for disposition. Some, like the Wheeling Bridge, have been saved and are celebrated while others have been lost forever.

The antebellum Wheeling Bridge was restored and is celebrated.

The Fairmont High Level Bridge was refurbished and is a major link in Fairmont, WV.

The Bellaire Bridge (shown a few posts ago) has been closed since 1991 and appears to be doomed. It seems a shame to lose this beauty.

 

[baychef]

Ok, I fell for the water e-mail, but what does one do or why would you want to "re-locate" a bridge. (Do you call a dentist to do your bridge work?) I know it is preserving a historical landmark but I am not sure I would like to travel on some of these bridges.

Oh...speaking of which...I think it was AJPratt...the Thousand Islands Bridge (the one that gives her nightmares) was closed for a few hours when an accident occurred! Because of the Canadian dollar being stronger than the US dollar, Canadians are flocking to the US. It make take an hour just to get through the lines at customs. The Candian customs tend to be easier to get through than the US.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

If you go back up to post #5 and look at the Stearns bridge, it no longer served any useful purpose at its installed location. The bridge was restored and moved (relocated) to Delphi, Indiana where it serves a walkway/bike path.The Passeo bridge still has useful life but the road it carries requires greater capacity. I think the city fathers of KC would like to see it moved to where it could still serve but it has to be replaced by a bridge with greater capacity.

 

[pcchris]

hi KG - got your email.....I feel SO honored that you would think to include me in this one.

That bridge might be worth spending $1...can you imagine the price you'd get for scrap??? tee hee..

I know you like old bridges.........sorry for the sarcasm.....

too late to be witty for me......

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

I'd love to move it to my back yard.I can just hear the neighbors now, not to mention the nasty grams from the village. There's a storm retention pond behind me - it would look great crossing it.

 

[pcchris]

I'd love to move it to my back yard.

I can just hear the neighbors now, not to mention the nasty grams from the village. There's a storm retention pond behind me - it would look great crossing it.

Yeah, it probably would! Would give a whole new meaning when you tell someone to "go jump off a bridge".....you could supply the whole scene!

where is soldier's grove? do you know?

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

It's in Crawford County, way over on the west side of the state. Soldiers Grove is on the Kickapoo River (this bridge crosses it) in the northeast corner of the county. It's about 20 miles east of DeSoto; DeSoto being on the Mississippi about halfway between La Crosse and Prairie du Chien. If you drew a line straight east from Soldiers Grove, it would go through West Bend.