Route 66 Crossings: Historic Bridges of the Mother Road

More important than the text is the visual record created through Ross' combination of contemporary and historical photographs While some locations still exist and are in use, others seem to be isolated on private property or have otherwise been destroyed Ross opens the book with diagrams of di...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Material culture 2018, Vol.50 (2), p.73-74
Main Author: Smith, Gregory Vance
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
BookReviews
Bridges
Communication
Culture
History
Readership
Roads & highways
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:More important than the text is the visual record created through Ross' combination of contemporary and historical photographs While some locations still exist and are in use, others seem to be isolated on private property or have otherwise been destroyed Ross opens the book with diagrams of different bridge types and general information used to differentiate them He also provides maps of a selection of the bridges covered In the first section he profiles existing bridges that are still accessed, demonstrating a continuum of their use - at least to a local community Many, like a heavily damaged concrete deck girder over Lilly Creek in Oklahoma, show the wear and tear of years of use and abuse (p . 31) . Repurposed structures include the more than one-mile-long Chain of Rocks Bridge taken over by Trailnet to the bedstead truss bridge that was disassembled by the city of Catoosa and put in storage for later use as a pedestrian bridge While this section is short and the long-term fates of many of the bridges are tenuous, it does offer a range of alternate uses and ways the structures can continue to be part of their communities moving forward . While the readership of this journal may be more concerned with the historical implications of the sites illustrated, this volume should appeal to those with less scholarly interests who want to see both the historical structures and the effect that time and use etched into the concrete and steel If I worked at a university near these sites, I would try to plan a class trip to at least a few of them While some offer an appealing aesthetic and others seem more like ruins, the stamps and plaques commemorating their construction give weight to history that cannot be duplicated in a textbook .
ISSN:0883-3680
2328-3750