The new bridge will also get corroded, but it will take a long
time before it needs replacement.

Jeff Weeks --
I am very glad the new bridge will look like the old one.
I thank whoever was responsible for that wise decision.

'etts --
You wrote:
"It is rare to replace a bridge or structure without modern
architects and designers continuing their visual assault on
the world."

You are SO right! Modern architects seem to really LIKE
ugly buildings and structures. i pity anyone who loves beauty
who goes into that field, unless they have a LOT of influence.
The most positive thing I can say about modern buildings and
structures is that they are not done -- no one bothered to
put the elegant and beautiful decorations on them that they
really need. I myself like curves in buildings and structures,
not all these ugly boxy shapes.

Folks --
Think about it: very little in nature is straight or flat, and very little
that we can see with our unaided eyes is boxy. This is why we
humans are hard-wired to like curves and complexity.

I found these wise words by H.G.Wells that speak to this very
subject of aesthetics:

"There is nothing in machinery,
there is nothing in embankments
and railways and iron bridges and
engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly..
Ugliness is the measure of imperfection."

(I could not find the essay or book this quite was taken from.)

Margaret