Here’s a fascinating excerpt from “Magic Highway USA,” a 1958 film from when Disney had its own TV show. It imagines what the nation’s highway system might look like in the future.

I saw this film as a child in the early 1970s, and it seemed overly fanciful even then. As the film fast approaches its 50th anniversary, it’s amazing to see how few of these concepts became reality.

A lot of it is because such complex highway systems and infrastructure would be breathtakingly expensive.

Also, such pre-planned systems are an anathema to the spontaneous joy of getting into a car, driving an unfamiliar road, and seeing what was around the bend. I suspect this “magic” highway system would be a vision of hell for Route 66ers. The current interstate highway system, albeit efficient, is already bad enough with its tedium and corporate homogeneity.

(Hat tip: Tim Steil.) 

For the first time in more than six years, the McKinley Bridge in Venice, Ill., on Monday reopened to vehicular traffic.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Venice Mayor Avery Ware was the first to drive across about 3 p.m. after more than $50 million was spent to rehabilitate the bridge that once connected Route 66 to St. Louis.

Car and truck drivers honked and waved at a group of engineers on site. They say
resurrecting the nearly century-old bridge just north of downtown was a tough
task because its materials and technology were so dated.

The McKinley Bridge was built in 1910 for rail lines, said Adam Dour, project
engineer for Halverson Construction.

The original structure was held together with old-fashioned rivets, which had to
be replaced with modern high-strength bolts. Engineers built new approaches on
both sides of the river and rehabbed the main section.

The more than two-year project involved a great deal of uncertainty about
materials and century-old technology - somewhat akin to renovating an old house,
said Ted Nemsky, construction engineer for the Illinois Department of
Transportation.

It’s estimated that 10,000 vehicles a day will use the bridge. And, unlike previous years, it will be a free bridge.

Here’s another story about the reopening by the Belleville News-Democrat.