Chris Cates

This is exactly the reason I do not contribute to this site anymore. I enjoy going out and looking for old bridges and other infrastructure...that's it. While I'm sure the bridges I've posted are "beneath the concern" of the handful of bridge gurus on this site, I really didn't care at first, but this is getting old. All the guy did was ask for help on locating a bridge in the Detroit area.

Speaking of the Detroit area, my grandfather moved to Detroit after World War II and would frequently take trips out in the country to Macomb County. Back then, places like Rochester, Utica and Romeo were nothing; just little towns that the railroad occasionally passed through, and horse country (in fact, up until the late 90's there were still some old stables located in Rochester, near the big blue water tower and Grand Trunk off Avon Road, but those are gone now). My grandfather enjoyed bridges as well and would take photos of them when out in the country hunting. Bridges off Card Road while still in use, 27 Mile Road, Romeo Plank near the old dam, Waldenburg Road over the Clinton (which is 22 Mile Road), Runyon Road/Tienken (25 Mile Road), the original bridge at 23 Mile and Romeo Plank before the current 1950's one, etc. Most of the bridges are long gone and totally forgotten. Luckily, he wrote the date and road on the back of the photos. Most of the bridges aren't listed on this site and, judging by the photos, were ready to collapse at any moment. I could go on and on about undocumented bridges in Macomb County, but I won't, no need to. Like Bob Dylan said, "I'll keep it with mine.".

I posted some generic WPA bridges some time back, and a few railroad bridges as well, but all are in Texas. I was tempted to post the Macomb County bridge photos on this site, but, after reading how people are treated, I declined. We all cannot be "experts" on all things bridges and most of us just enjoy the search and taking photographs. What's sad is that the majority of the people on this site are just like me, they ENJOY bridges, they do not care or know about the engineering of bridge construction in 1903, they just want to see old bridges. While the passion for construction and design is great, it's the way it is presented that is the issue. While the need for editing is necessary to update a design or wrong coordinates, it gets out of hand when someone posts a bridge that, say, for 80 years carried the Katy, and they call it something like "Smith Bridge" because that's what the locals call it and have always called it. Then someone from Minnesota jumps in and states that it is a light commuter line for the past three years and deletes the old reference and name. The nit-picking of entries is getting very, very old; and I think the site is missing out on some great old information and photos because of it. Too many people are fed up.

Great photos and information, Robert. It makes me want to take a trip out to West Virginia....when it gets warmer.

It's always a positive when someone actually goes out in the field, climbs through the muck, avoids the rattlesnakes, verifies the location, takes photos, etc.