1908 Toro Creek Bridge; Fort Ord National Monument

I had arrived in Monterey early enough in the day after taking Signed County Routes G16 and G20 to check another National Monument off my list with Fort Ord. I turned east on California State Route 68 off of G20 to access the Badger Hills Trailhead in Fort Ord.

Fort Ord was an Army reserve created in 1917 which occupied much of the terrain between the Monterey Peninsula and the city of Salinas. The majority of Fort Ord closed in 1994 which left most of the land unused. The majority of the training grounds of Fort Ord became a National Monument in 2012 and has become a popular hiking destination in Monterey County. Even though some areas of the former base are off limits due to unexploded ordinance much of the troop roads can be access on foot.

At Toro Creek there is a pedestrian bridge that has been built in the same location of as the 1908 Toro Creek Bridge.

Next to the new bridge is various pieces of the 1908 Toro Creek Bridge. According to the plaque on the walking path the 1908 Toro Creek Bridge was in use until 1940. By 1933 Toro Creek Road would have become part of Legislative Route 117 which in turn eventually became CA 68.

The views from the top of Guidotti Road are pretty nice with much of the Monterey Peninsula, Santa Lucia Range, Salinas, Fremont Peak, and much of the Gabilan Range fully observable.

Comments

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population. The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove