Madera County Road 211 is an approximately eight-mile highway located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains north of Lake Millerton. Road 211 connects the community of O'Neals at Road 200 south to Road 145 near the former Minarets & Western Railway siding of Bellview. What is now Road 211 was constructed as a stage road during the California Gold Rush era which connected the original Fresno County seat of Millerton to the Fine Gold Gulch Mine District. Part 1; the history of Madera County Road 211 What is now Madera County Road 211 was constructed during the California Gold Rush era of what was then the Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern Fresno County. Specifically, it was constructed as a highway connecting from the original Fresno County seat of Millerton (at the San Joaquin River) to the community of Find Gold Gulch. The highway was part of larger corridor which connected to Fresno Flats (now Oakhurst) to the north and the city of Fresno to the south. The h
The Francis Scott Key Bridge (1977-2024) was a steel continuous truss bridge that spanned the Patapsco River in Baltimore, MD. Situated at the entrance to Baltimore’s Outer Harbor, the bridge carried Interstate 695 (part of the Baltimore Beltway) and was a visible symbol of the city and the state of Maryland. This bridge no longer exists due to its collapse as the result of a collision with a large container ship on March 26, 2024. The following piece will discuss the history and life of the Key Bridge, the important details surrounding the incident that caused its collapse, and the in-progress recovery efforts at the site. This piece will also discuss the economic impacts to the city and region as a result of the collapse and will look ahead at what to expect from a potential replacement crossing in the future. Part 1 - History of the Francis Scott Key Bridge (1977-2024) Planning for what was originally known as the “Baltimore Outer Harbor Crossing” began in the 1950s at the dawn of