Ran across this website, thanks to an article in the Port Huron Times New Herald. Not only does this site show an interest in preservation, it uses technology to raise awareness of an often undervalued building type – bridges.
http://www.historicbridges.org/
Student fights to save old, forgotten bridges
By BOBBY AMPEZZAN
Times Herald
When it comes to cataloging and preserving historic bridges, it’s not Nathan Holth’s age that makes him impressive, it’s the work itself.
Holth, 21, of Clyde Township launched his own Web site in 2003, the same year, coincidentally, a research firm released a report on historic bridge management and preservation. The report called for a Web site to address concerns related to the country’s historic bridges.
Since then, Holth’s Web site, www.historicbridges.org, has grown to include pictures and profiles of more than 1,000 historic bridges — the result of hundreds of “bridge-hunting” trips. Depending on the search engine used, the site is either the first or second listed in the results of an Internet search of “historic bridges.”The Web site’s “bridge browser” feature lets users search for bridges from Massachusetts to Iowa and from Ontario to Tennessee. It also provides driving directions to the bridges and a report, which may range from a brief description to a much longer narrative.Holth understands he’s blessed and cursed by his obsession.“I like … being a leader in a subject area a lot of people (aren’t). I’m doing something that might otherwise be forgotten. It’s really tragic in my mind, and that is the half I feel I’m cursed by. It’s really a sad hobby sometimes.”Holth said he’s been interested in bridges — specifically metal truss bridges, which have a superstructure akin to the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron — since he was a boy because of their “beauty.”While www.historicbridges.org holds its weight as a way for people to learn about historic spans, it also is a push to get others involved in efforts to save bridges in danger of being destroyed.“There are a handful of bridges (on the Web site) I call ‘the atrocities,’ meaning bridges that have been demolished despite great opportunities for preservation,” Holth said.The Wadhams Road bridge over the Pine River, built in 1927, was “an elite” class of “atrocities.” Holth said he likely has put more time into this bridge on the Web site than any other, in part, because of its proximity to his home. Another reason for his interest is the bridge was in particularly good shape.The bridge was demolished in April.“It really looked like it came out of the 1920s, but they demolished it because of liability,” Holth said.Holth’s Web site and activism has helped save bridges, such as the Balls Bridge in Huron County, Ontario.Locals found Holth’s Web site and contacted him about their “two-span, pin-connected Pratt through truss” bridge last year. They wanted Holth to create a Web page for it and help them preserve it. They even invited the then 20-year-old to speak to a group of government officials and local activists, and he did.Holth’s presentation centered on the significance of historic bridges and what makes the Balls Bridge unique. In January, officials voted to preserve it and allocated $250,000 for its rehabilitation.“Maybe I’ll move to Canada because I find I like the way they treat history,” Holth said.Holth will graduate from Western Michigan University in December 2008 with a degree in secondary education.In his free time, he creates new pages for the roughly 200 bridges he visited last summer. He’s also started a major overhaul of his Web site.
Contact Bobby Ampezzan at (810) 989-6273 or [email protected].