Beatty Mills Bridge

Well!.......I guess there is hope for the Asinine (See previous posts for this bridge) world of PennDOT. It sounds like this was one man's efforts that saved the bridge. I guess if they would have noted their intentions on the hysterical (yes I spelled it right) marker, we (OK....mainly I) could have saved that tirade for another time. I don't need my blood pressure soaring like that for naught!

.....I know.....I'm giving PennDOT way too much credit.

Thanks Chris- I've updated the listing to reflect that article.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/leadertimes/news/s_584172.html

Check this link out - according to that they have saved the old bridge ....

I just found a PDF on PennDOT's District 10 webpage that highlights this bridge's replacement:

ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/Districts/District10/Outreach/DistrictArmstrongConstruction2008.pdf

It appears the new UCEBs are/were on the repair list! Shows how long they last!

Had to post again, it is just UNREAL what they did!

To replace a classic bowstring with this hideously ugly slab is unforgivable. I agree with Anthony, definitely asinine.

If PennDOT has their way, every bridge in PA will be a UCEB before we know it. Thankfully, that kind of money isn't available, and their reports show they have been rehabilitating some trusses out in central PA.

Yet, a 134 year old bowstring truss, that was perfectly fine, maybe needed a paint job? C'mon PennDOT! Now that bridge is sent somewhere overseas for scrap no doubt, and someone's profiting off the steel/iron, which should be illegal. It's bad enough they do that to more modern riveted truss bridges, but this is, I think Anthony described it best, Asinine.

It's for this reason, wasteful spending, that PennDOT is crying out for help to the Turnpike Commission! However as long as someone is profiting off the steel scrap, or as long as the concrete guys are in it w/ PennDOT, this will continue.

Yeah....I get pretty incensed when I see an indignant act carried out on a landmark that is now lost forever. There are so many hiking and biking trails going up now, that there is no reason the bridge couldn't be reused. Someone asked me if Asinine was the proper term to use in my previous comment, so I will give the definition and let you decide.

ASININE-marked by inexcusable failure to exercise intelligence or sound judgment.

Fits well....I think!

Tony

I would have to agree with the previous post. I don't know how effective a "tombstone" for a destroyed bridge can be, especially one that describes the theory of the design with no actual structure to look at.

It is always sad to see an interesting structure lost to the over standardized style of bridge design of today. How long will it be until all the bridges will be standardized Bulb-T, I, and Pre-cast slab bridges? While theses bridge styles have their place on the mundane highways systems, what is the problem with spending a little extra in retrofiting and unique designs to bring some romance back to the world in the proper locations?

Famed bridge engineer Conde McCullough said it best…

"From the dawn of civilization up to the present, engineers have been busily engaged in ruining this fair earth and taking all the romance out of it.”

Would somebody in Pennsylvania please tell PENNDOT that destroying a 130 year old historic bridge, and then putting up a plaque telling how proud they are of what they did is...........ASININE.

Wow, that new bridge looks awful!

Here's the page over on Historicbridges.org w/ a further description/pictures:

http://historicbridges.org/pennsylvania/beattymills/index.htm

And people wonder why I say I hate PennDOT, they can't keep their roads maintained yet they demolish so many useful bridges.