USS ALASKA
Captain
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2016
https://historicbridges.org/
History and Overview
HistoricBridges.org was founded in June of 2003 under the name Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere by Nathan Holth. It originally began as a website that provided photos and information for historic bridges in Michigan and nearby places, giving rise to its original name, Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere. From day one, Holth placed a priority on photo-documenting bridges as extensively as possible, including both overview photos and detail photos which show the structural design and condition of a bridge. Also from day one, there was been a commitment to the advocacy of historic bridges, through public awareness efforts and communication with elected officials. Holth later teamed up with Rick McOmber, another historic bridge enthusiast and photographer, to expand the geographic coverage of the website. Holth and McOmber combined the costs of travel to make longer out-of-state trips, and the site rapidly began to cover surrounding states. At the same time, Luke Gordon, a historic bridge enthusiast with a construction and engineering background, joined the team. Gordon brought the technical knowledge and hands-on experience needed to allow the website to move beyond documentation and also provide consultation and advising services for historic bridges. By 2009, amidst the growing coverage area and range of services offered, Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere was renamed to HistoricBridges.org. The name is simple, yet reflects not only a strong web presence, but a range of features and services that are not restricted to a geographic location.
Today, HistoricBridges.org is the one-stop-resource for all types of historic bridges except wooden covered bridges. Wooden covered bridges are not a part of HistoricBridges.org because providing information and services on this well-known and extensively preserved bridge type would be redundant and a waste of HistoricBridges.org resources. HistoricBridges.org today remains a committed leader in providing information, photos, and consultation on metal and concrete historic bridges.
Historic Significance of Featured Bridges
The United States government and the 50 states define a historic bridge as a bridge listed in or officially found eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register of Historic Places is a listing that has specific requirements called Criterion that a bridge must meet to be eligible or listed. HistoricBridges.org believes that the National Register is a useful tool, but has some serious problems. Bridges that display an appearance and/or design not found in modern bridges may help give a community a sense of identity and origin, and they may tell us a great deal about our transportation heritage, yet may be ineligible for the National Register. Also, the National Register provides no clear indication of the varying significance of old bridges. Some bridges are more rare and significant than others and deserve greater effort toward preservation, however the National Register provides only a "Yes" or "No" finding for eligibility or listing. Furthermore, the way the United States operates, if a bridge is not listed or eligible, it is given no consideration for preservation by the federal government, even if the bridge offers some level of heritage value (even if not meeting National Register Criterion) and would be feasible to preserve... yet such bridges are instead demolished with no consideration given to the feasibility of preservation.
It should be noted that some communities in the United States have municipal designations for historic structures. In some cases, such as the City of Chicago's Landmark designation, the criteria for these listings is quite different from the National Register of Historic Places, and furthermore, these listings may offer greater protection for the designated bridge.
In Canada, heritage designations are largely handled by municipality-level designations. There are provincial designations as well, such as the Ontario Heritage Bridge List. Also, Ontario has a unique point-based system for evaluating the heritage value of historic bridges. Like the National Register Criterion in the United States, the Ontario procedure has its own unique faults and shortcomings, however as a point-based system it acknowledges a range of significances which the U.S. National Register does not.
HistoricBridges.org lists many bridges, ranging from nationally significant historic bridges that have one or more official designations, down to bridges that may have very little significance or might even be heavily altered from their original design, but still have something to tell us about the history of transportation or bridge construction.
Because of the wide variety of historic significance among the bridges listed on HistoricBridges.org, and because of the shortcomings of official designations, HistoricBridges.org instead uses a unique proprietary system to ***** the historic significance of bridges on the website, called the Historic Significance Rating (HSR). Click here to learn more about the Historic Significance Rating. This page also explains the range of bridges included on this website. Sometimes, a HistoricBridges.org narrative will discuss whether or not a bridge should be considered eligible for or listed in the National Register, but this is separate of the HSR rating.
As such, do not visit HistoricBridges.org expecting to see only rare historic bridges that are officially designated. At the same time, use the HSR rating to help sort through the bridges that are really important or rare versus those that are more common and less significant. Visitors interested in only rare and highly significant bridges should be able to use the HSR ratings to single out those bridges. At the same time it should be noted that HistoricBridges.org does pride itself in not including modern bridges built after 1970. In only a few cases are post-1970 bridges shown on this website, and when they are, they are clearly marked as modern bridges. This is a website about transportation past, not transportation present.
HistoricBridges.org's deviations from following systems like the National Register and exclusion of modern bridges sets this website apart from other bridge websites, as well as apart from the philosophies of other bridge experts and scholars. It is the intent that these differences do not diminish the usefulness and credibility of the content offered on HistoricBridges.org, but instead offer a new and unique perspective to the heritage value of bridges.
752
Cheers,
USS ALASKA
History and Overview
HistoricBridges.org was founded in June of 2003 under the name Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere by Nathan Holth. It originally began as a website that provided photos and information for historic bridges in Michigan and nearby places, giving rise to its original name, Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere. From day one, Holth placed a priority on photo-documenting bridges as extensively as possible, including both overview photos and detail photos which show the structural design and condition of a bridge. Also from day one, there was been a commitment to the advocacy of historic bridges, through public awareness efforts and communication with elected officials. Holth later teamed up with Rick McOmber, another historic bridge enthusiast and photographer, to expand the geographic coverage of the website. Holth and McOmber combined the costs of travel to make longer out-of-state trips, and the site rapidly began to cover surrounding states. At the same time, Luke Gordon, a historic bridge enthusiast with a construction and engineering background, joined the team. Gordon brought the technical knowledge and hands-on experience needed to allow the website to move beyond documentation and also provide consultation and advising services for historic bridges. By 2009, amidst the growing coverage area and range of services offered, Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere was renamed to HistoricBridges.org. The name is simple, yet reflects not only a strong web presence, but a range of features and services that are not restricted to a geographic location.
Today, HistoricBridges.org is the one-stop-resource for all types of historic bridges except wooden covered bridges. Wooden covered bridges are not a part of HistoricBridges.org because providing information and services on this well-known and extensively preserved bridge type would be redundant and a waste of HistoricBridges.org resources. HistoricBridges.org today remains a committed leader in providing information, photos, and consultation on metal and concrete historic bridges.
Historic Significance of Featured Bridges
The United States government and the 50 states define a historic bridge as a bridge listed in or officially found eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register of Historic Places is a listing that has specific requirements called Criterion that a bridge must meet to be eligible or listed. HistoricBridges.org believes that the National Register is a useful tool, but has some serious problems. Bridges that display an appearance and/or design not found in modern bridges may help give a community a sense of identity and origin, and they may tell us a great deal about our transportation heritage, yet may be ineligible for the National Register. Also, the National Register provides no clear indication of the varying significance of old bridges. Some bridges are more rare and significant than others and deserve greater effort toward preservation, however the National Register provides only a "Yes" or "No" finding for eligibility or listing. Furthermore, the way the United States operates, if a bridge is not listed or eligible, it is given no consideration for preservation by the federal government, even if the bridge offers some level of heritage value (even if not meeting National Register Criterion) and would be feasible to preserve... yet such bridges are instead demolished with no consideration given to the feasibility of preservation.
It should be noted that some communities in the United States have municipal designations for historic structures. In some cases, such as the City of Chicago's Landmark designation, the criteria for these listings is quite different from the National Register of Historic Places, and furthermore, these listings may offer greater protection for the designated bridge.
In Canada, heritage designations are largely handled by municipality-level designations. There are provincial designations as well, such as the Ontario Heritage Bridge List. Also, Ontario has a unique point-based system for evaluating the heritage value of historic bridges. Like the National Register Criterion in the United States, the Ontario procedure has its own unique faults and shortcomings, however as a point-based system it acknowledges a range of significances which the U.S. National Register does not.
HistoricBridges.org lists many bridges, ranging from nationally significant historic bridges that have one or more official designations, down to bridges that may have very little significance or might even be heavily altered from their original design, but still have something to tell us about the history of transportation or bridge construction.
Because of the wide variety of historic significance among the bridges listed on HistoricBridges.org, and because of the shortcomings of official designations, HistoricBridges.org instead uses a unique proprietary system to ***** the historic significance of bridges on the website, called the Historic Significance Rating (HSR). Click here to learn more about the Historic Significance Rating. This page also explains the range of bridges included on this website. Sometimes, a HistoricBridges.org narrative will discuss whether or not a bridge should be considered eligible for or listed in the National Register, but this is separate of the HSR rating.
As such, do not visit HistoricBridges.org expecting to see only rare historic bridges that are officially designated. At the same time, use the HSR rating to help sort through the bridges that are really important or rare versus those that are more common and less significant. Visitors interested in only rare and highly significant bridges should be able to use the HSR ratings to single out those bridges. At the same time it should be noted that HistoricBridges.org does pride itself in not including modern bridges built after 1970. In only a few cases are post-1970 bridges shown on this website, and when they are, they are clearly marked as modern bridges. This is a website about transportation past, not transportation present.
HistoricBridges.org's deviations from following systems like the National Register and exclusion of modern bridges sets this website apart from other bridge websites, as well as apart from the philosophies of other bridge experts and scholars. It is the intent that these differences do not diminish the usefulness and credibility of the content offered on HistoricBridges.org, but instead offer a new and unique perspective to the heritage value of bridges.
752
Cheers,
USS ALASKA