Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Another one bites the dust

Another two, actually.

#1—The easternmost of the two one-lane bridges carrying Lower Baseline Road across branches of Sixteen Mile Creek in Halton...


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Going concern still open to traffic (obviously), Feb. 28, 2010:

 Closed to traffic but still there, May 21, 2011:


Poof. March 11, 2012:

...you can see the shadow of the new bridge there on the right. I was convinced they'd keep this one for fishermen and stuff, and was really surprised to find they hadn't. But they've closed the parking area just past the old bridge in the field on the left there, and are down to a tiny spot behind me in these views that can hold three cars at best. Clearly, they no longer want folks enjoying the valley here. Keep moving. Nothing to see here.

#2—The bridge that formerly carried 4th Line across Sixteen Mile Creek in Halton. I actually rode across this a few times in the 1990s when it was still open. By then, it was being seasonally closed in the winter. It was permanently closed around the turn of the century, and recently removed altogether and replaced with the pedestrian/bicycle bridge below.


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September 1, 2006:

December 24, 2011:
At least the folks running Halton Region still want people to enjoy this part of the valley. A century ago, there was a one-room schoolhouse off to the left. Yeah. Down in a flood plain. Typical pioneer planning.

And, oddly enough, a much more impressive bridge off to the right, crossing the river at a much more impressive elevation (view below dates from 1916)...


Same view today (well, "today" as in 2006):

A view of one lost bridge from the abutment of another, from 2006. The centre of this shot is where I was standing to take the cross-bridge shots. This was taken standing on the abutment in the shot just above.

2 comments:

Jim Grey said...

Bummer of a way to start my day! Demolished old bridges make me :-(

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Jim. :) Ah, but at least I managed to record it. I have several videos of driving across it as well, in the hopes that one day people (future nerds) will be able to view that and imagine what it was like. I should have gone back there in the summer... I guess I wasn't paying attention but it strongly looks to me like the old road going up out of the valley has been planted with trees. It's one thing for nature to recover an old road, but ushering it out of existence just seems unfair to future hikers. :(