Professional and Career Topics

Sarah,

While I agree that railroads are impressive, let's not reduce an iconic part of our infrastructural history that still attracts visitors from countries around the world to a "parking lot"

Heidi,

I understand that those were fighting words.  But I was reading a book written be someone following Route 66 and looking at the places where they stopped along the route, and it was really depressing.

The towns and cities were more parking lot than building.  See the screenshot from google maps below of Clinton, OK along RT. 66.

For now, I am boosting the the Central Pacific Railroad and the Inka Imperial HIghway.  

What are others passionate about?

Vote!!!!

Sarah,

While I agree that railroads are impressive, let's not reduce an iconic part of our infrastructural history that still attracts visitors from countries around the world to a "parking lot"

Sarah,

You'll find in a zoom-around of rural areas across the US that what you don't like about Clinton is true of most rural towns. When you have a low population density in the area and plenty of land, public transportation is infeasible, and going "out" is much more economical than going "up" instead.

Yes, there are some over-paved and under-maintained spots along the Route, but that is not what makes the Route iconic. The neat thing about driving Route 66 is the preservation of a bygone era with old fueling stations, historic buildings, etc. along with the fantastic bridges in many different styles. Sadly, the interstates replacing Route 66 with straighter alignments that were safer also meant a bypass of many of those towns. Their economies were gone nearly overnight in some places. Reading about the Route or viewing it from above is quite different from seeing it in person. 

Below are a few photos of some of the interesting things I've seen along the Route so far. (I'm breaking my drive up across multiple smaller trips.)

Heidi,

I understand that those were fighting words.  But I was reading a book written be someone following Route 66 and looking at the places where they stopped along the route, and it was really depressing.

The towns and cities were more parking lot than building.  See the screenshot from google maps below of Clinton, OK along RT. 66.

For now, I am boosting the the Central Pacific Railroad and the Inka Imperial HIghway.  

What are others passionate about?

Vote!!!!

Sarah,

While I agree that railroads are impressive, let's not reduce an iconic part of our infrastructural history that still attracts visitors from countries around the world to a "parking lot"

I see that Route 66 has a lot of backing.

Remember to VOTE!

Sarah,

You'll find in a zoom-around of rural areas across the US that what you don't like about Clinton is true of most rural towns. When you have a low population density in the area and plenty of land, public transportation is infeasible, and going "out" is much more economical than going "up" instead.

Yes, there are some over-paved and under-maintained spots along the Route, but that is not what makes the Route iconic. The neat thing about driving Route 66 is the preservation of a bygone era with old fueling stations, historic buildings, etc. along with the fantastic bridges in many different styles. Sadly, the interstates replacing Route 66 with straighter alignments that were safer also meant a bypass of many of those towns. Their economies were gone nearly overnight in some places. Reading about the Route or viewing it from above is quite different from seeing it in person. 

Below are a few photos of some of the interesting things I've seen along the Route so far. (I'm breaking my drive up across multiple smaller trips.)

Heidi,

I understand that those were fighting words.  But I was reading a book written be someone following Route 66 and looking at the places where they stopped along the route, and it was really depressing.

The towns and cities were more parking lot than building.  See the screenshot from google maps below of Clinton, OK along RT. 66.

For now, I am boosting the the Central Pacific Railroad and the Inka Imperial HIghway.  

What are others passionate about?

Vote!!!!

Sarah,

While I agree that railroads are impressive, let's not reduce an iconic part of our infrastructural history that still attracts visitors from countries around the world to a "parking lot"

Sarah,

While I agree that railroads are impressive, let's not reduce an iconic part of our infrastructural history that still attracts visitors from countries around the world to a "parking lot"

Didn't know we did this ;)   Several of the nominations are already landmarks, so I think we should make more landmarks, rather than re-promoting ones already in the system.  A question, though - for all these transportation routes (and I love RRs), do we have several plaques along the way? or where do we put them?