For most of the past two years, the old bridge over the Juniata River that allows backroad access from our rural home to the village of Alexandria has been in the process of being replaced.
I was sad to see the old bridge go. Besides allowing me to get the post office without having the venture out on the state highway with its couple of tricky intersections, the bridge on the turnpike was one of those vintage steel-girder structures that I refer to as an Erector Set Bridge.
For reasons I can't pinpoint, I was saddened to lose the old bridge. Imagine my pleasure then, when I found that instead of just replacing the bridge with a concrete slab, the township (or the county or the state, or whomever) had refurbished the steel superstructure and put it back in place, with a fresh paint job.
I'm not sure whether the steel serves any structural purpose, but for me it surely enhances the aesthetic.
We won't be having a white Christmas this year, but because somebody in our municipality made the decision not to lose a piece of the township's history, it's a merrier Christmas for me.
