Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Historic Bridges Need Lots of Love

Historic bridges need lots of TLC.  Like old houses or vintage cars, they need special care but bring special joy to their owners.  Historic bridges, which are owned not by individuals but by communities, can trigger deep emotional responses in those communities, evoking ties to their history and sense of place.  All of this makes for challenging work for transportation engineers and planners, who need to find solutions that will keep these structures useful in a 21st century transportation system.

A lot of credit should go to advocacy groups, who often take the lead in saving these bridges from indiscriminant destruction.   In the case of the Headquarters Road Bridge (also known as the Sheephole Road Bridge) in Upper Bucks County, PA, credit goes to the Delaware Riverkeeper, leading the way toward finding a way to put this 200-year-old beauty back in service.


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