Bridges and Tunnels
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Day 4: July 30, 2014 Bridges and Tunnels Comment via blog |
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As promised/threatened, I waved at the Old Spanish Trail Zero Milestone as
I drove by and here's a blurry picture to prove it.
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The active mission is to drive the Old Spanish Trail. The OST and the DH
(Dixie Highway) are one and the same between Saint Augustine and
Tallahassee. Between Saint Augustine and Jacksonville, the route is 1)
essentially US-1, 2) the one I drove as the DH in 2008, and 3) pretty much
boring four lane. I hope that explains why there are no pictures before
this one more than twenty miles west of Jacksonville. I'd seen a photo of
this place in
Steve Varner's 2008 trip and recognized it
immediately. But I had not studied the photo and my first thought on
seeing it for real was that the letters were built into the structure. No
so. They are painted on. That was a wee bit disappointing but the cool
wooden cows made up for it.
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I passed the 1925 Old Ellaville Bridge before I realized it was there so
my exploration was a little haphazard. These pictures are presented in
geographic rather than chronologic sequence. First up is the east bank
approach and a look out on the bridge from that side. Then the river
crossing profile and the view from the west side. The last shot is of the
road heading away from the west end of the bridge.
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A little east of Monticello, on Bassett Dairy Road, trees reached across
the road to form a green arch. This was hardly the first time I'd seen
that on this trip but it went on for some distance here so that reaching
Monticello felt something like emerging from a tunnel.
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The tree tunnel effect returned as I approached Tallahassee on Old Saint
Augustine Road. Openings appeared at intersections with the entrance to
the next tunnel just beyond. I don't recall ever seeing a "CANOPY
ROAD" sign before but they were fairly common and certainly
appropriate here. Canopy roads (I like this new found name.) are beautiful
and a pleasure to drive -- mostly. In large doses they can be a little
disorienting and I found myself quite as happy to exit the last tunnel as
I was to enter the first.
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The old pavement leads to the remnants of the 1922 Old Victory Bridge over
the Apalachicola River. The picture of the quarter is for the benefit of
students of the bigger-gravel-means-older-pavement school. In the cool of
my motel room, I really regret not walking out to get a better look at the
bridge but at the time the decision seemed right.
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Only out of town traffic is permitted on the east end of the Old Spanish
Trail segment at Sneads but a cross street gives west bound traffic access
to the road just a couple hundred yards beyond where the row of house
trailer shaped buildings caught my eye. The road is smooth and paved until
it isn't. I turned back when the surface turned to dirt at the edge of
town.
I gave it another look a few miles later at the town of Grand Ridge. The road, now called Florida Street, is paved through the town but goes to dirt at the edges. I was tempted but there will be no excursions on questionable roads this trip. |
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