Ghost Town Tuesday; Cumpressco, FL and the wooden Lanier Bridge

Back in 2015 I went to the central region of the Green Swamp in Pasco County looking for the town site of Cumpressco just to the east of Florida State Road 471.

Cumpressco was a company logging town located in the Green Swamp and was created at some point during the 1920s. The name Cumpressco was an amalgamation of the "Cummer Cypress Company" which honestly hasn't weathered the test of time in regards to modern humorous sensibilities. Cumpresco operated on two rail grades running west to Dade City and the other northwest to Lacoochee. Logging operations in Cumpressco ended in 1939 and both rail lines were abandoned. The rail line west to Dade City is now known as Cumpressco Grade Road to the Withlacoochee River while the line to Lacoochee is now Main Line Road. The town site of Cumpressco is now part of a hiking trail in the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve.

Interestingly when the Cumpressco Grade Road reaches the Withlacoochee it becomes Summer Lake Road at a community which was once known as Ashley. Westward Summer Lake Road becomes River Road and crosses the wooden Lanier Bridge. At some point also in 2015 I set out to find the Lanier Bridge while traveling to Hernando County.

The site of the Lanier Bridge has had a crossing of the Withlacoochee River since the first structure was completed in 1850s. The Lanier Bridge has been replaced numerous times with the modern structure coming into place in the last couple decades. The wooden deck is actually pretty smooth to drive on and is one of the few wooden deck automotive bridges I'm aware of that still is in service within in Central Florida.

Fivay.org has an excellent article on the history of the Lanier Bridge crossing along with photos of the historic markers at the Withlacoochee River.

Fivay.org on the the Lanier Bridge

Fivay.org Lanier Bridge Historic Markers

Comments

Kevin Boldenow said…

The Carpetbaggers from up north came to Florida and plundered our natural resources.

8:07 PM

California State Route 77; the real "Shortest Signed" State Highway

Over the last two weeks I visited almost every State Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area. The shortest State Highway by a large margin in the Bay Area is California State Route 77.

CA 77 is presently only 0.45 miles in length and is located entirely within the City of Oakland. CA 77 begins at Interstate 880 and heads eastward on 42nd Avenue to CA 185 on 14th Street. As presently completed CA 77 would rank as the third shortest State Highway only behind CA 275 and CA 283.

CAhighways.org list of Shortest State Highways

CA 77 presently has a 13.4 mile portion that has not been constructed. CA 77 as originally envisioned would have continued northeast towards Concord and would have junctions with; I-580, unbuilt CA 93, CA 24, I-680 and CA 242. According to CAhighways.org the present route of CA 77 was designated as Legislative Route Number 233 which was approved by the State Legislature in 1953. The legislative description of LRN 233 was changed to LRN 235 by 1957.

CAhighways.org on…

Local Sign Find - Georgia Route 280 found in Sutersville, PA?

Sign errors happen - a US shield in place of a state highway shield or vice versa. It's interesting to some and a pet peeve to others. But when Mike Natale found a Georgia 280 shield in Sutersville, Pennsylvania, you have to think something must be up.
And in this case, there's a reason for it. It's a prop for a television series. Netflix's popular TV series "Mindhunter" is shot in the Pittsburgh area. Mike came across the GA 280 sign in October 2018 and it is possible that the scenes involving Georgia 280 should be in Episode 6 or 7.

Georgia State Highway 280 is located in northwestern and western Atlanta. That's a far cry from the Mon Valley. It is common for television or movie scenes to be shot elsewhere than where they are set at. However, it is very rare to see a sign prop out in the wild while production is on going. This is a great find by Mike!

The strange evolution of Interstate 280 in San Francisco

Recently while in the San Francisco Bay Area I wanted to check out the north terminus of Interstate 280 in downtown San Francisco. I-280 as currently aligned diverges significantly from what was originally planned in the City of San Francisco.

Much of the finalized planning of the Interstate Highway System in the San Francisco Bay Area was largely plotted out by 1956. Between CA 17 in Los Gatos and CA 1 in San Francisco the path of I-280 ultimately followed Legislative Route Number 239 which was designated by the State Legislature in 1957.

CAhighways.org on LRN 239

LRN 239 can be seen appearing on the State Highway Map City Insert of San Francisco connecting to CA 1 by 1958.

1958 State Highway Map City Insert

I-280 was to take a far different route than it currently does in San Francisco. The original plan for I-280 was to follow CA 1 on LRN 56 towards the Golden Gate Bridge where it would terminate at I-480/LRN 224 and US 101. The original planned alignment of I-280 becomes apparen…

Gribblenation

Search This Blog