USTDC

Photo of USTDC courtesy of Les Duffin

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

A Bridge Less Complicated

Regular contributor Stev Pitchford provided these photos from September 1959, showing the Chung Shan North Road bridge that many of us remember. It was replaced by the busy interchange shown in my last post. I understand that all of the old spans have been removed and I assume that the footings are gone also.

As I said earlier, I often walked across this bridge. It was common for food vendors to park their carts at either end, and the first time I ever tasted dried squid was from one of those carts. That was also the last time I ever tasted dried squid. Apologies to all those who enjoy this delicacy, but it just didn't appeal to my western sense of taste.

Now a plate of delicious "pot stickers," on the other hand . . . .



6 comments:

Misty said...

The old bridge is in pieces on the north bank of the river where the old swimming pool used to be. I have a vague memory of reading an article where some politician had promised that the old bridge would be restored. Actually, the old bridge isn't the first version as there was a cast iron bridge before that, also built by the Japanese. The bridge you know was built for Hirohito's visit. I am sure someone will correct me on one of these points but as there isn't much written in English about the bridge, historical facts are hard to come by.

I think collectively people who remember the bridge miss it. Today that whole area is traffic hell.

Stev said...

I remember that squid. It was like chewing on a salty rubber band.

Victor said...

http://funp.com/push/?tag=%E6%98%8E%E6%B2%BB%E6%A9%8B&hot&stars=1#p=305720 明治橋最初是鐵製桁架橋(1901年-1912年) 橋面木造 (Meiji Bridge was built in 1901. It was first a cast iron bridge with wooden floor.)
西元1912年 木造橋面改建成鐵筋混凝土橋面工程(In 1912, the wooden road was replaced by the concrete road.)
1923年 日本皇太子(昭和天皇)至台灣 路過明治橋不禁讚嘆(Hirohito visited Taiwan in 1923 and highly praised the elegance of the bridge.)
1933年 改建鋼筋混凝土拱橋(RC拱橋) (The bridge was reconstructed to a reinforcing concrete arc bridge in 1933.)
西元1946年 明治橋改稱「中山橋」(Its name was changed to Chungshan Bridge in 1946.)
西元2002年12月20日 宣佈拆除(The bridge got torn down in Dec 2002.)

Don said...

Misty (or anyone else who's in Taipei), if it's possible to take a couple of photos of the pieces of the "Hirohito" bridge, I'd really like to post them here for all to see.

Thanks a bunch!

Victor said...

Don,
The following is what I've found about "the pieces of the Hirohito bridge" via www.google.com.tw. http://www.bunny.idv.tw/blog/downloads/2006/05/%E4%B8%AD%E5%B1%B1%E6%A9%8B_1.jpg

Misty said...

Sorry, I'm not in Taipei otherwise I'd take a stroll down there to see what was goin on.

I did find this image though.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/weihsi/3549293212/

Notice the bridge to nowhere? You have to love Taipei planning.