There are at least three bridge restoration projects in the corridor in very recent memory. The Sutliff Bridge, damaged horribly in the 2008 Flood, has been restored and is opened. Bridges salvaged from various townships in Johnson County have been restored as part of a wonderful trail that rings the lake at Kent Park. The Bunker Mill Bridge, between Kalona and Richmond, damaged by an arsonist’s frolic, is in the first stages of being saved.
Yesterday on a beautiful fall day, while thousands were taking in the Iowa Hawkeyes beating the Northwestern Wildcats in football at Kinnick Stadium, I took in the bridges at Kent Park. I was surprised and delighted that two came from Liberty Township, the township of Hills, and that one bridge was not even a bridge at all in its former life.
What a wonderful way to combine history, repurposing, nature, culture and exercise.
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- Bridge formerly on Maier Avenue across Old Mans Creek.
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- Maier Avenue Bridge. From a distance. Formerly across Old Mans Creek. (Note: This creek’s name does not use an apostrophe.)
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- Pony Truss Bridge. Original location not specified.
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- A close-up of the Otter Creek Bridge, which once resided in Fremont Township.
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- Pony Truss Bridge. As seen across the lake.
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- The first Liberty Township bridge, originally over Dirty Face Creek.
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- Preparing to cross a bridge that once spanned Dirty Face Creek in Liberty Township.
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- The Dirty Face Creek Bridge seen from across the lake.
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- Made-up Bridge. From afar, what a beauty. This beauty could be male, female, both, or neutral. I have an emotional-cognitive development high enough and a self-esteem strong enough not to assign a gender to an inanimate object.
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- This current bridge was not originally a bridge. It was fashioned from roof supports of an undisclosed Iowa City building. The building was demolished and these metal structures would tossed in a country ditch. What a great repurposing to result from a most egregious case of littering.
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- “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille,” says the Made-up Bridge.
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- Preparing to cross the Dane’s Road bowstring bridge, once at home in Liberty Township.
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- Ready to cross the Made-up Bridge.
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- This handsome spirit originally spanned Buck Creek in Pleasant Valley township.
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- Another Liberty Township bridge! Originally on Dane’s Road.
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- Dane’s Road Bridge. Close-up of a bridge that once lived in Liberty Township. A bowstring bridge.
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- This bridge originally spanned Otter Creek in Fremont Township.
