CARTHAGE, Mo.-
This southwest Missouri city on old Route 66 is rallying to preserve a 1920 wooden bridge from too much renovation that might take the thrill out of driving over its sharp rise and fall, according to The Joplin Globe newspaper.
The wooden bridge over a railroad track on Oak Street rises and falls so sharply that travelers who are unaware can scramble their stomachs–if not their undercarriages.
Mayor James Woestman knows it as the “Whee” bridge; Rebecca Rustin knows as it “Tickle Tummy Hill.”
“My grandpa used to take my sister and me over the bridge, turn around at Braum’s, go over the bridge again, and turn around again at what used to be Dairy Queen, while we screamed, ‘Do it again, Papa!'” Rustin told the Globe.
The city recently received a federal grant of $177,200 to upgrade the bridge.
“It has a lot of attachments to the city and to Route 66,” Woestman said. “We are trying to see what we can do to stabilize it. If we replace it now, it’s possible they will keep the hump so it can still be the ‘Whee’ bridge.”
Chad Wampler, director of public works for the city, said there is a possibility the bridge will stay the same. He said there have been talks about doing repairs in such a way that the bridge won’t have be to torn down and replaced.
