My favorite name for a bridge in my part of the Ohio River: The Silver Memorial Bridge.
Least favorite: The Frank "Gunner" Gatski Memorial Bridge.
Next least favorite: Any bridge bearing a politician's name that functions as a taxpayer-subsidized campaign contribution.
4 comments:
Two most confused bridge names in Louisville:
L&I (Louisville and Indiana) Bridge, formerly Conrail Bridge, before that Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, also Fourteenth St. Bridge and Ohio Falls Bridge
(see Wikipedia article)
and
K&I (Kentucky and Indiana) Bridge, always so-named as far as I know
(see Wikipedia article)
I always enjoyed calling in for downbound traffic at the "Purple People Bridge"...
Worst named? The bridge that took the place of the Shadle Bridge over the Kanawha at Pt. Pleasant/Henderson, WV.
Worst bridge itself? There was, back in the 1960's, a bridge over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH, from US 21 (I-77) northbound to Clark Avenue on the West Side. The bridge seemed old and decrepit the first time I drove over it (about 1964 or 1965) and the last time I drove over it. As I recall it was just north of Harvard Ave. exit. Boy, the stench from the steel mills below on the banks of the river was horrible, and the air was actually a muddy bronze/brown for a few blocks north and south of that bridge.
I was glad to see that one come down with the advent of I-77 and I-71. Now, with the steel mill gone and the river cleaned up, it is nor too bad to be on the top of the banks above and see the river flowing peacefully below, and the air is not badly polluted at all.
Tanstaafl, the new bridge is called the Bartow Jones Bridge. But I -- and I suspect a lot of other folks, too -- still call it the Shadle Bridge out of habit. If I remember local history correctly, Shadle was a local farmer who more or less led the drive to get the original bridge built. .. As it happens, I have a lot of photos from the film era with the Shadle Bridge in the foreground or the background.
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