Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Old Bridges/New Bridges

The Beaver Valley features 3 or 4 old bridges over the river in the main part of the valley.  Two of them failed this summer, so only one of the old iron bridges remains carrying traffic - though there's also an old one on a now unused road allowance.

This is the old iron bridge that still carries traffic.  And it's the 'flower bridge' in the summer.  I must try and dig out my pictures of it.

Large hanging baskets of flowers are hung between the uprights of this bridge, contributed by a nearby garden centre.  Good reason to love this old bridge, part of our township's heritage.  I love the criss-cross iron work.

This is the other old bridge still spanning the river.  It's only used by snowmobiles and pedestrians officially, but I suspect hunters occasionally drive in here.  I like the old rivets holding these bridges together.

I drove down another sideroad to see the new bridge that has replaced one of the older ones, just about 3 weeks ago.  The road was closed for about 8 months.  And at the moment I had to wait for the snowplow, who had to raise his wing-blade just to get through the bridge.

Here's the old bridge before it was condemned, taken when we canoed down the river last spring.  Look closely and you can see those old rivets.


This is the new bridge, no rivets in sight, all welded steel construction.  The old bridge was lifted out in one piece by a huge crane, and this bridge, built elsewhere arrived on one side of the river on a huge truck, which had to back down about a mile of valley sideroad to get in position.

A crane was waiting on the other side of the river, and slowly they inched the bridge off the truck, the crane holding the other end up, until they had it in place across the river.  I wish I had been there to see it!  I don't know what the wooden pieces are, maybe something they have to finish next spring.

This is a another new but much smaller bridge at Slabtown, further downstream, where they similarly brought in a crane and lifted it into place in one piece.  I've actually seen a video of that operation - really neat!

And there was one other old bridge that I believe actually collapsed last spring, and was replaced.  A quite different style of construction.

The deck is vertical 2x8 boards, but somebody didn't bother taking the price tags off all the boards!  Old bridges are an interesting bit of our landscape, but now there's only one of the really old ones left in use.

****

Been busy, both trying to get out on snowshoes or skiis, and doing my Life Long Learning Series, which seems to be going very well, even though it's taking a lot of work.  I got more than my target 1 hour/day of walking/snowshoeing/skiing in last week, and so far this week I'm doing well.  Enjoyed a brisk 1.5 hour ski today on the Glenelg trails with another group, and the trails were in excellent condition!  I'm anxious to go back by myself with my camera.

Linking to:

Tuesday's Treasures


12 comments:

  1. Old bridges seem to be a fact of life around here...the infrastructure gets more worn out by the day. Thanks for sharing at Tuesday's Treasures this week and I hope that you return again soon.

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  2. Love these old (and not so old) bridges, not to mention your great pictures and commentaries. Thanks! :-)

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  3. There are very few of those old iron bridges...I can think of a couple within driving distance (hour or a bit more) that are still in use, and one not so far that was left, but not to drive through.

    I enjoy seeing your pics.

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  4. Great shots on the bridges. Looks nice with the snow and with all the greenery.

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  5. Great shots of the bridges. We saw flowers hanging from a bridge in your town this past summer. A water truck was watering the baskets. It was quite early on Sunday morning.

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  6. Love seeing pics of bridges in other places (it's the civil engineer in me!)

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  7. Beautiful surroundings. I like the rusty bridge.

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  8. Glorious photos and story of the bridges. I love the idea of the flower bridge - and the price tags on the ends of the bridge boards are "priceless".

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  9. Very cool bridges, I like them best surrounded with snow!!

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  10. Lovely photos ! We have a an old bridge like in your first photo going over our river for the road that goes deep into the forest and comes to a dead end eventually with a farm at the end . Our bridge was built in the early 1800s . I love historical bridges and buildings . Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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  11. Great series on the bridges. The snowy shots are great. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!

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