I’m talking about walking on a bridge (and another, and another…) and seeing a little plaque that states its MilInv number, and about public works often needing military approval because they affect possible troop movements. It’s the kind of thing that most people wouldn’t notice, but I was an outsider looking in and I’m interested in public works in ways most non-professionals aren’t. To me those little plaques might have been the size of an 18-wheeler.
The example that comes to my mind is the U.S. interState highway system, which Eisenhower modeled on Hitler’s autobahn highway system.
Before Hitler / WWII U.S. highway infrastructure was reportedly a hodgepodge of low grade driving paths, some of which weren’t even paved.
Former Supreme Allied Commander and then U.S. President Eisenhower imagined an InterState highway network as a means to quickly mobilize volunteers & or transport troops to our coasts, should a national emergency suddenly arise.
Of course there were obvious additional benefits such as expediting commerce (getting farm produce to city markets quicker, and therefore fresher, improving flavor and reducing waste), reducing travel time, etc.
I’m not doubting you, I just have never seen such a thing. Can you give an example of some bridges that I can google and find pictures of these plates? You’ve piqued my curiosity, and I have no idea how to begin looking for them.
I am the person who submits my states bridge inventory data to Washington and have done so for 25 years. I have never heard of a milinv number and don’t believe there is such a thing. Bridges carrying or crossing routes of military importance (STRAHNET routes) are identified in the NBI and I’m sure that FHWA shares this data with DoD, and the latitudes and longitudes of those bridges and their linear referencing location is well known.
There are, of course, bridge identification numbers and each state has their own scheme. Some are simple numeric identifiers and some have some other information encrypted within them. The main purpose of having them on a plaque (most of them are about the size of a 3x5 card on the bridge railing) is to enable the inspector to assure himself that he’s at the right bridge. These days with the inspectors having ready access to lats and longs through his phone, that is less important than it used to be. Sometimes you’ll see elaborate plaques with things like city council names, those are mostly on local bridges and made to stroke the egos of local officials. BTW, the feds don’t pay for vanity plaques like that.
If you have a photo of something that shows what you call a milinv number, I’d be most interested in seeing that.
Another recent thread links to this story — Omaha is grinding up asphalt roads to replace them with cheaper-to-maintain gravel-and-dirt roads! 27 states have seen such pavement-to-gravel conversions, but doing it in thriving urban Omaha is unusual.
This might be a good idea where I live! Rural roads are designed for light traffic, but even 24-wheelers (7-axle trucks) use them to haul sugarcane. The roads are resurfaced periodically but very soon get thoroughly potholed again. We’ve stopped taking the obvious shortcut to all-points-East for fear of car damage.
(Trucks here can have 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 axles. When I lived in U.S.A. it was very rare to see a truck with more than 5 axles — is that still the case?)