Book critique: The last three miles by steven hart
Posted by jonathan - 22/04/08 at 03:04:15 pm
In any location I like to read about the physical and social surroundings of times past. I daydream of different eras and what life would be like if I walked and lived in the past. History has always afforded me this comfort of escapism. The last there miles, while not a masterpiece is a good starting point into the 20th century Hudson county that was formed of blood, sweat,concrete and steel. Chronicling the construction of the pulsaki skyway, the book meanders is way around jersey city personalities curiously wandering into some back alley back stories. A quick read, a couple hours at most, it helps explain why the local bombed-out roads embarrass me as I drive my 2nd world mother-in-law over parts of America that no immigrant never associates with the DREAM. Like the Soviet emphasis on inner city transport as a means to control people the highways of America were used to control the work of the masses from the 30s through the Eisenhower highway era.
Some other first iteration designs of the skyway to note were the lack of a median, (the jersey barrier was introduced years latter), the slippery concrete surface and the use of left lane entrances which quickly solidified the roads nickname, deathway. The use of left hand entrances was a simple oversight of railroad engineers who had not experienced the user controlled merging which took shape with automobile traffic in a railroad ambidextrous entrance into the main path was of no significant difference.
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