Pennsylvania Historic Preservation

Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Category: Transportation (Page 5 of 6)

Wiley’s Bridge is located along Bowers Road in Berks County. Public interest has spurred talks of preservation for this rare Whipple Through Truss bridge. Courtesy of historicbridges.org. Used by permission of Nathan Holth.

Bridge to the Past: PennDOT’s Historic Metal Truss Bridge Management Plan

March 15, 2017 / / 7 Comments

In June 2016, I was hired as the Transportation Special Initiatives Coordinator in the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).  This new position was created through a special funding agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and was developed to assist them in marketing the state’s historic metal truss bridges. My position has evolved over the last 9 months and I see my purpose as helping both PennDOT and the SHPO preserve the remaining population of historic metal truss bridges by either marketing them for an adaptive reuse at a new location or helping to develop and implement a management plan to rehabilitate these bridges as part of the transportation system. Continue reading

630 Central Avenue showing Bond Street façade of unpainted yellow brick and Third Alley façade of red brick, note the rhythm of single, double, and triple window and door openings with projecting brick surrounds. Photo by Jesse A. Belfast, 2016. Used by Permission of Thomas Sylvia of Cambria County Transit Authority.

Local Landmark for Sale: Johnstown Car Barns

January 18, 2017 / / 4 Comments

Car barns are a historic remnant of a bygone era. The Johnstown Car Barns, located at 630 and 716 Central Avenue in Johnstown are no exception.  Built in 1893 to service and store trolleys, these building help communicate the story of public transportation in Cambria County.  The historic car barns are being offered for sale, allowing for a unique opportunity to adaptively reuse the buildings so they can be retained as an important landmark in the community.

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Saltsburg Or Bust!

November 25, 2015 / / 1 Comment

This past June Barbara Frederick and I were in Saltsburg, Indiana County attending a stakeholder meeting for the Loyahanna and Conemaugh Dam’s master planning process. The Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District has been hard at work this summer updating their planning documents, and, as the Western Region Section 106 review team, Barbara and I have been doing our part to provide our support to their process. We also used the opportunity to get a first-hand look at the Dams, Saltsburg, and some really great historic resources!  Continue reading

#FindYourPark: Steamtown National Historic Site

November 18, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The National Park Service will marks its 100th anniversary in 2016, and in honor of this centennial celebration, PHMC will highlight the National Parks in Pennsylvania throughout the coming year, as seen through the eyes of our staff.

Recently, a couple of us from the office went on a trip to the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton.  The site is owned by the National Park Service and is the site a rail yard and engine roundhouse of the former Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad.  We went to discuss consultation between our office and NPS on maintenance and infrastructure improvements at the site.  Once we were done with our official discussions, we got a tour of the facilities. Continue reading

Philadelphia’s Magical Mosaic Streetscape and the South Street Renaissance

November 11, 2015 / / 0 Comments

When I discovered the fabulously whimsical and colorful mosaic murals along the 1000 block of South Street in Philadelphia, I had no idea this outpouring of creativity was actually part of a fascinating preservation story.  Visually, the neighborhood is delightful surprise, a colorful, mysterious and enigmatic world of unexpected images, embedded in the physical structure of the buildings.  While the artwork is fun and engaging, it is also much more.  It is physical evidence of the power of people to reclaim and reinvent their communities and redirect the forces of change that threaten them. Continue reading

The uniformed toll collectors at each interchange were seen as the Turnpike's "ambassadors".

Happy Birthday, Pennsylvania Turnpike!

September 30, 2015 / / 4 Comments

PTC_75-years_logo-272x300The Pennsylvania Turnpike turned 75 on October 1, and groups throughout the state have already started their tributes to this engineering marvel and cultural icon. On October 2, the State Museum opened a new permanent exhibit about the Turnpike in its Industry and Transportation gallery, and the recent issue of the Pennsylvania Heritage magazine featured a great piece on the Turnpike written by the exhibit’s curator, Curt Miner. Earlier this year, staff from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and PHMC and Gerry Kuncio, senior historian for Skelly and Loy, Inc., gave a presentation about “America’s First Superhighway” at the Statewide Conference on Heritage. We wanted to send out our own birthday greeting and share with our readers some amazing historical facts about our beloved Turnpike.

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Looking Down The Road: The PHMC’s Role in Regional Transportation Planning

October 1, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Over the past several years the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has developed an innovative partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to provide regional Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Rural Planning Organizations (RPOs) with free technical assistance to help them develop their Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTP). Supported by funding from FHWA, the goal is to encourage these planning organizations to integrate cultural resources and historic preservation issues into their transportation planning.  Continue reading

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commision Logo

Unscripted: an archaeologist’s journey into the world of film production

September 17, 2014 / / 0 Comments

In my position here at BHP, I am involved in a wide variety of activities, in addition to my primary job duty, review of compliance projects in the Western Region for archaeology. Most of these activities center on keeping all the internal bits and parts of BHP moving, including processing archaeological reports for final storage in our archive, collaborating on updating our Guidelines for Archaeological Investigation, or chairing the committee on addressing our bureau storage and archive issues. All of these activities keep me entirely within my Historic Preservation, Cultural Resource Management comfort zone. Like all comfort zones, though, it can sometimes get, well, a little too comfortable. Back in the summer of 2011, looking for a change of pace, I volunteered to manage a PennDOT/Federal Highways (FHWA) mitigation project: a short film about historic bridges aimed at inspiring public interest in bridge advocacy. Did I know anything about historic bridges? Nope. Did I know anything about producing films? Nope. Did I know a great deal about public advocacy? Nope. Piece of cake, right? Continue reading

Pennsylvania Railroad: Schuylkill Valley Branch Bridge No. 83.40 (Auburn); Bartram Trail, West Brunswick and South Manheim Townships, Schuylkill County

The Past, Present and Future of the Transportation Enhancement Programs, MAP-21 and Transportation Alternatives Program.

July 9, 2014 / / 0 Comments

On July 17, 2014, at the Forum 2014 Statewide Conference on Heritage Byways to the Past in Philadelphia, the Bureau for Historic Preservation (BHP) will be part of the panel for the session “The Past, Present and Future of the Transportation Enhancement Programs, MAP-21 and Transportation Alternatives Program.”  Continue reading

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