# Abandoned highways and other corpses of infrastructure **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364 "2006-06-12T01:38:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/21 "2006-06-12T12:38:50Z")
Two good sites for London: [http://underground-history.co.uk/front.php](http://underground-history.co.uk/front.php) [http://www.derelictlondon.com/derelict\_london\_com.htm](http://www.derelictlondon.com/derelict_london_com.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Clam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Happy\_Clam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Clam)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/22 "2006-06-12T12:49:11Z")
Sweet! Thanks **GorilllaMan**! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/23 "2006-06-12T12:50:12Z")
North of Toronto, near a town called Newmarket, there are some old locks that were part of a canal that was never completed. The canal was planned in the 19th century and the locks were built in the early part of the 20th. But by the time the locks were completed, railroads had negated the need for a canal there, so the project was never finished. The lock structures still stand though, and can be interesting to explore. (Those who visit are advised to be careful; the concrete is crumbling, and missteps can be dangerous.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/24 "2006-06-12T12:54:42Z")
Just a small follow-up. I should have looked first, but better late than never. [This page](http://www.pbase.com/pdwc/ghost_canal) has a lot of photos of the unused locks of the canal I mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/25 "2006-06-12T13:15:32Z")
Forgetting too the seaplane base at RAF Castle Archdale (which is now just plain old Castle Archdale) There’s not too much to see, just some large expanses of concrete which I assume were for Sunderlands and Catalinas to lounge on, some old buildings in the forest surrounding it which could be anything really and an old unassuming building which I think has/had some sort of forbidden entry sign on it. Speaking of Sunderlands and Catalinas, there are quite a few sea planes under Lough Erne that crashed on landing or take off, war graves too IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/26 "2006-06-12T13:24:17Z")
There’s a number of abandoned (or I guess officially just disused) RAF bases around here. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/27 "2006-06-12T13:29:35Z")
Castle Archdale was purely a flying boat base to cover the Atlantic Gap, so it probably fell into disuse sooner than most other RAF bases in the UK. There aren’t any control buildings as you might see in a WWII fighter base elsewhere, just the weathered concrete for planes to sit on. ---
**Author:** ![volvelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e0b2c6/32.png) [@volvelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volvelle)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/28 "2006-06-12T15:06:26Z")
I’ve always wanted to do stuff like that but never had the nerve. This guy has some of the most amazing photos of abandoned places I’ve ever seen. > **[abandoned places](http://www.abandoned-places.com/)** ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/29 "2006-06-12T15:40:06Z")
Probably 15 years ago I was doing some geochem surveys in rural SE Texas. I’d usually visit with the landowner beforehand, even though we already had permission, and more times than not they’d walk the property with me as I worked. One county in particular I noticed had farms and ranches where you’d come up to a fence, then there’d be a 100 foot or so thin strip of land, then the neighbor’s fence running parallel. In this thin strip between the two fences there were sometimes large trees growing but other than that it wasn’t grazed or in any discernable use. Turns out, as I was told by one property owner, these were old dirt roads that had been abandoned once interstates were built and they’d gone completely “back to pasture.” There were literally hundreds of miles and untold tens of thousands of acres that were simply sitting fallow inbetween deeded farms and ranches. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/30 "2006-06-12T15:40:30Z")
The original Spean Bridge, Lochaber, Scotland built by command of General Wade in the 18th c. and photographed by me a few years ago. Superceded by Thomas Telford’s new bridge a few miles upstream in 1819, the original collapsed in 1913 and was not repaired. The roads which approached it are now just tracks. The opening shots of the 1745 Rebellion were fired on the approaches. [![](http://www.fototime.com/0A1C998967869E6/standard.jpg) ](http://www.fototime.com/0A1C998967869E6/standard.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/31 "2006-06-12T15:50:57Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] How many of our modern structures would still be standing after millennia, like the Pantheon or Hagia Sophia are? [/QUOTE] I don’t have a cite handy, but I remember reading in one of Mike Davis’s books (maybe _City of Quartz_) that the only things built in the US likely to last millennia were the interstate highway system and maximum-security prisons. You should get a hold of a copy of Camilo Jose Vergara’s [American Ruins](http://monacellipress.com/books/AmericanRuins.shtml). He photographically tracks urban decay, including many on a very large scale (like the old Packard factory in Detroit and the RCA building in Camden NJ), sometimes over decades. His Wikipedia page New York City has a number of [abandoned subway stations](http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/), many of which you can see from the trains if you know where to look. There’s also an abandoned smallpox hospital on Roosevelt Island. If you prefer abandoned mental hospitals, there’s Connecticut State Hospital, and Fairfield Hills State Hospital. I couldn’t find pictures on-line, but our national’s first medical center, Jersey City Medical Center, is mostly abandoned, although there is a plan to turn it into apartments (it’s a beautiful old Art Deco thing). And here’s an interesting website, full of old hospitals and amusement parks etc: Opacity ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/32 "2006-06-12T16:13:50Z")
[QUOTE=volvelle] This guy has some of the most amazing photos of abandoned places I’ve ever seen.[http://www.abandoned-places.com/](http://www.abandoned-places.com/) [/QUOTE] Welcome to the SDMB, **volvelle**. Your link sounds very interesting, but I only get architetural drawings when I click on it. What am I doing wrong? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/33 "2006-06-12T16:15:37Z")
There are some very depressing pictures in [Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields](http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/index.htm). Even though it’s US-only, it’s pretty comprehensive. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/34 "2006-06-12T16:44:16Z")
Wouldn’t “Abandoned highways and other corpses of infrastrucure” make a good album name? ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/35 "2006-06-12T17:28:06Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] Welcome to the SDMB, **volvelle**. Your link sounds very interesting, but I only get architetural drawings when I click on it. What am I doing wrong? [/QUOTE] Do you get past the front page and into the galleries? Because once you get in the galleries, the circles on the drawing are links to the different pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/36 "2006-06-12T17:30:21Z")
Regarding the PA Turnpike, you can see it in its glory days in this 1946 [Prelinger Archive film](http://www.archive.org/details/BusDrive1946) about a Greyhound bus trip from New York to Pittsburgh. On the West Coast, or at least in Southern California, the [Ridge Route](http://www.ridgeroute.com/index.asp) is probably the most famous abandoned highway. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/37 "2006-06-12T17:42:29Z")
[QUOTE=Missy2U] Do you get past the front page and into the galleries? Because once you get in the galleries, the circles on the drawing are links to the different pictures. [/QUOTE] The problem’s just that the website is poorly designed (or rather, over-designed). It’s not clear where to click to get anything, especially as many of the circles appear to be links-in-waiting. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/38 "2006-06-12T17:47:15Z")
Here in Schenectady, there is the Klondike, though it’s often called the stairway to nowhere. It was build around the turn of the century: a set of stairs from Hamilton Hill in the city (one of the highest points) leading down to the General Electric plant. Workers would walk from their homes to GE and back each day. It got its name because it was a very cold and windy climb during the winter. The upper stages are gone, but the lower section – going up around 20 feet – can be seen along route I-890 in Schenectady, an ornate concrete structure. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/39 "2006-06-12T17:58:39Z")
[Dixie Square Mall!](http://deadmalls.com/malls/dixie_square_mall.html) The place has been abandoned since 1979 but looks like some ancient ruin; Indiana Jones would be right at home. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/40 "2006-06-12T17:59:33Z")
Forgot about this: [Forgotten New York](http://www.forgotten-ny.com/) is filled with stories and pictures of abandoned buildings and other oddities in the New York City area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364.md?page=3)