Getting Wider, and Wider, and Wider, and...
建設会社で働いている親戚から聞きましたが、作る事に当たって一番誇りになるのは橋だそうです。
でも、川を渡る橋を作って、川の位置が変われば大変ですね。その新しい部分まで橋を伸ばすことになる。そして、川の流れがまた変われば橋をもう一度伸ばす。また変わればまた伸ばす。
そして伸ばすたびに、その時に橋作りの規則に従わなければならない。昔はうんと狭い橋でも良かったらしいけど、年数が立てば立つほどその規則幅がどんどん広くなってきた。
という訳です。
(何の訳？）
あっ、言うのが遅れました。戸倉上山田温泉の下流の橋、この冠着橋、は面白い橋です。西側はこの写真の様に車一台分の幅です。渡る内に幅は三回も変わります。段々と広くなります。
でも今の内に体験しなければなりません。長野県はこのあまりにも不便(？)な橋の横に新しい橋を作っている最中です。世の中で面白い橋はまた１つ消えます。
A relative of ours that's in the construction industry once told me that one of the things they have the most pride in building is a bridge.
But one of the things that's difficult about bridge building is the river doesn't always stay put. So what happens when the river you built a bridge over shifts its channel? You extend the bridge to cover the river's new position. And if the river changes again? You extend the bridge again? And another change? Another extension.
Another tricky thing about bridge building is government building code tends to change, especially regarding the required width of the bridge. A long time ago, when there were few cars on the road, you could get away with a one-lane bridge. But as the years go by, the minimum width restrictions get increasingly wider.
So that's why.
(Why what, you ask?)
Oh, I neglected to mention that this picture is of Kamuriki Bridge, just downriver from Togura Kamiyamada Onsen. This is the west end of the bridge, where it is a 1-lane deal. As you cross the bridge, the width changes. 4 times
If you want to experience a bridge that changes width 4 times, you'd better hurry. Nagano Prefecture is building a replacement for this inconvenient (?) bridge next to the existing one.
That means we're losing another funky bridge from the world.
4 different widths on one bridge!
