tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post605794015525054993..comments2024-03-15T21:43:52.652-05:00Comments on City in the Trees: Flindon Road bridge revisitedLone Primatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15746801663695992138noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-11830931609714437372012-10-11T08:05:24.562-05:002012-10-11T08:05:24.562-05:00Yes--and a function of the population growth that ...Yes--and a function of the population growth that has taken place since those roads and bridges were built, and the consolidation that unites formerly small, independent communities, requiring links that accommodate not just one lane of traffic but two or four. In my old stomping grounds there are many roads crossing pasture rivulets, creeks, and gullies with little bridges a lane and a half wide that remain as they were 75 years ago because the surrounding towns have remained relatively stable in population, with gains roughly matched by the withering away of manufacturing and concommitant loss of jobs, and the exodus of retired folks to warmer climes. As long as smaller farms were viable the land remained in the hands of the families who had lived there for several generations, which almost certainly played a role in the fact that there's been little appreciable sprawl reaching out to nearby towns. So those small bridges continue to serve a basically rural population of dairy farms, orchards, and vineyards, with a few more houses along those roads than there were when I was growing up. That may change with the retirement of the current farm generation--fewer children, and fewer still who want to follow in their parents' footsteps. Easier and more profitable for them to sell the land to a developer. And there has been a minor influx of new manufacturing in a couple of those towns that may draw a new workforce, perhaps outpacing the emigration of oldsters as the Boomer bolus passes through the system. So far the area looks much as it was decades ago, and for now, Thomas Wolfe notwithstanding, I can go home again. Bridgewaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06536588122777725073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-10184250050592131162012-10-10T12:49:49.878-05:002012-10-10T12:49:49.878-05:00I think it's a function of the city having fou...I think it's a function of the city having four or five river valleys in it that were substantial enough to represent significant obstacles to transportation until about a hundred years ago. No Mississippis, of course, but on the other hand, rivers that provided for dinky little roads to snake down embankments and to humble little bridges that could handle one car (or horse and buggy) at a time. It's a nice middle ground that lends itself to a number of little roads and bridges that were important once but aren't anymore.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-77291956916952178492012-10-10T10:59:32.426-05:002012-10-10T10:59:32.426-05:00I swear, Toronto has the most extensive system of ...I swear, Toronto has the most extensive system of former roads and bridges of any city in the civilized world.Jim Greyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06941665968757241278noreply@blogger.com