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Jan. 6th, 2012 01:50 amWas doing some Google Sightseeing when I decided to visit the Lewistown Narrows, in PA ( http://g.co/maps/3jjed ).
The Narrows were considered one of the most dangerous (if not THE most dangerous) roads in America. It was six miles of a very narrow two lane road, with a sheer wall on the north side, and the Juniata River on the south.
When I left PA in 2000, they were just about to begin a massive roadway project to upgrade this tiny dangerous road to a much safer freeway. They were debating wether to throw the freeway higher up on the hill with a new ridge road, or maybe elevate the road so they'd have more room using the existing right of way. Never did see it until today, when I used Google Earth to show me the Narrows.
They did manage to squeeze the freeway into that tiny little strip, but at a bit of a cost.
One of the things I liked about the Narrows, was you had a road squeezed into this impossibly tight space. But there were also houses and small businesses squeezed into the even MORE tight space between the road and river and mountain. Driving along, you'd see a house crammed right up against the road, with a small "exit" leading into a driveway right up to the front door. You'd see detatched garages right up against the road, with houses a little way up. One house had it's own rutted frontage road, leading through his junkyard and back to the freeway. It was like a little stringtown culture all along this road.
And it must have been odd living there. There were no U-turns on the road. If you missed the house, you had to continue all the way to the end of the narrows, turn around, go all the way through again, then back to the house. Miss the house, and you have a twelve mile trip to get back.
Sadly, in order to build the freeway, all the houses on either side of the road are gone, as are the businesses as well. I remember seeing a bar on one end of the narrows even before I left with a sign saying "Don't let the freeway kill us." All those houses, some of them looking very old, are gone. And a little stringtown culture is gone.
I wonder where they all went....
Well, at least Marysville ( http://g.co/maps/avvrb ) is still a tiny isolated little community. Wonder if they have a little microculture, being so isolated for all those years.
The Narrows were considered one of the most dangerous (if not THE most dangerous) roads in America. It was six miles of a very narrow two lane road, with a sheer wall on the north side, and the Juniata River on the south.
When I left PA in 2000, they were just about to begin a massive roadway project to upgrade this tiny dangerous road to a much safer freeway. They were debating wether to throw the freeway higher up on the hill with a new ridge road, or maybe elevate the road so they'd have more room using the existing right of way. Never did see it until today, when I used Google Earth to show me the Narrows.
They did manage to squeeze the freeway into that tiny little strip, but at a bit of a cost.
One of the things I liked about the Narrows, was you had a road squeezed into this impossibly tight space. But there were also houses and small businesses squeezed into the even MORE tight space between the road and river and mountain. Driving along, you'd see a house crammed right up against the road, with a small "exit" leading into a driveway right up to the front door. You'd see detatched garages right up against the road, with houses a little way up. One house had it's own rutted frontage road, leading through his junkyard and back to the freeway. It was like a little stringtown culture all along this road.
And it must have been odd living there. There were no U-turns on the road. If you missed the house, you had to continue all the way to the end of the narrows, turn around, go all the way through again, then back to the house. Miss the house, and you have a twelve mile trip to get back.
Sadly, in order to build the freeway, all the houses on either side of the road are gone, as are the businesses as well. I remember seeing a bar on one end of the narrows even before I left with a sign saying "Don't let the freeway kill us." All those houses, some of them looking very old, are gone. And a little stringtown culture is gone.
I wonder where they all went....
Well, at least Marysville ( http://g.co/maps/avvrb ) is still a tiny isolated little community. Wonder if they have a little microculture, being so isolated for all those years.
