Looking West On Oysterville Road, 3/30/2017

For some time now we’ve been hearing the word “infrastructure” bandied about in the news.  Worrisome statistics about failing bridges and inadequate public transportation systems assail us and mind-boggling trillion-dollar budget proposals make my head spin.

Meanwhile, we are so used to stopping somewhere on the Megler-Astoria Bridge while workers scrape and paint and maintain that we automatically factor an extra fifteen minutes into our travel time.  And, though we are told that our County’s money for road maintenance is sacrosanct – a percentage of the budget that cannot be used for other things – we know that costs multiply faster than the wear and tear around us.

Looking Southeast On Oysterville Road 3/30/2017

Road damage is one of the ways our rainy winter has taken its toll here in Oysterville – and everywhere else in the County, no doubt.  Oysterville Road – the oldest north end thoroughfare from ocean to beach – is crying out for repair. Not all of it, though.  Just the east end – the County part.  Looking weat, at the junction of Sandridge and Oysterville Roads, the highway to the beach looks pretty good.  That’s the State part of the road (SR103).  To the east – the part with the potholes – is the responsibility of the County.   I imagine the repairs will be done when the weather improves.  In the meantime, I think about an article in the 1971 Sou’wester by George “Dewey” Delong.  He was born in Long Beach (then called Tinkerville) in 1898 and documented some of his reminiscences in an article called “Slick and Slide: The Story of My Life.”   His section on Trails, Roads, and Highways is worth reading – especially to appreciate how far we’ve come in the last few generations.  An excerpt: 

Repair Work on Oysterville Road, 1880s

The original roads were narrow, with one-way traffic and turnouts; if you met a car with no room to pass, one driver would be required to back up. The first graders were pulled by horses–a man in front guided the animals while the one behind managed the blade, ‘but when I began road work we used wheelbarrows and shovels for equipment. When we got trucks, we had the F.W.D. Pierce Arrow and Liberty. I ran one of the first gas-powered graders, a Fordson.

 My favorite tidbit from Mr. Delong’s article is this:  In the beginning there were no road signs; drivers used their instincts and sometimes disaster resulted. One of the first road signs I remember read “Sound Your Claxon.”

Great advice if you are traveling through Oysterville these days!