In the mid 50's, it was a big deal to us southsiders when they opened the new 15th Street Bridge. Prior to that, we had to either go over the 8th Street Bridge, or use the old stone arch bridge by the fertilizer plant. The fertilizer plant is long gone, but the old stone bridge is still there. Schreibers Bridge was built in 1828, and rehabilitated in 1920. The new 15th Street bridge was built in 1957, and is now restricted to south bound only, until which time it can be completely replaced. So the new bridge lasted 54 years, while the old stone bridge is still in use, 182 years later.
Recently, I urged Donny Cunningham not to replace the stone arch bridge on Reading Road. His project manager, Glenn Solt, insists that the historic bridge must be replaced. He stated that stone arch bridges look nice on the outside, but inside, they're filled with "crap." Thankfully, Don and Glenn didn't target Schreibers Bridge, because we're really going to need it with the new 15th Street Bridge out of commission. Hopefully, they will reconsider about stealing our history on Reading Road.
reprinted from November 2010
This is a set-upline, right?
ReplyDelete"He stated that stone arch bridges look nice on the outside, but inside, they're filled with "crap." "
Thanks for a teeny bit of humor regarding this otherwise sad comment.
This is our version of the decline of Rome.
We live in new houses that are built like crap compared to the homes of yesteryear.
The fine older homes we occupy are now repaired with crappy shingles rather than slate, and crappy spackle instead of plaster.
Our ancient, well built water and gas lines rarely get replaced at all but when they are, will the crappy plastic currently used have nearly the same life span?
Many of the Roman roads still exist.... our crappy roads are in a constant never ending state of being repaired
The list goes on.
anon 12:38, solt actually made the statement to another blogger over two years ago, defending the county's plan to replace the bridge. i hope the county now reconsiders. the stone arch bridge compliments the WPA stone work at union terrace, causes traffic to slow improving safety for the school, and would leave us with a significant historic example of early 19th century engineering.
ReplyDeletethere is no need to replace this bridge....
ReplyDeleteWhat are Glenn Solt's qualifications to judge a bridge's stability? Not trying to sound rude. Is Glenn
ReplyDeletean engineer?