Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/20/super-creepy-offices-and-drawbridge-control-rooms-beneath-memorial-bridge.html
…
7 Likes
Part of me wonders how practical it would be to rent something like that out for events.
Another part wonders at how much asbestos remediation would be needed.
15 Likes
While boating under the bridges in DC one should avoid looking up.
Creepy drawbridge offices are the least of your worries.
8 Likes
I don’t think it’s creepy but the interior looks remarkably like a video game still
8 Likes
There is a venue in the top part of Tower Bridge which is great for views and long narrow parties, the walk up takes you past the bascule machinery, some friends of mine won a wedding reception there for proposing on Valentines a few years back.
9 Likes
Centreville, VA, here. Howdy, neighbor!
I have to admit I haven’t been over the Potomac near Alexandria since the Museum of Science Fiction’s Escape Velocity at National Harbor in May, 2019. But, didn’t they tear down the bridge with the creepy control towers when they put in the new bridge?
2 Likes
When I see stuff like this my first thought is “now THAT’S affordable housing.”
6 Likes
You little tease. How are you going to tag something “urban exploration” and not have pictures from inside the sealed-up offices? Now I’m jonesing for dry-rotted wall calendars from 1953 and a big rusty control panel with lots of cryptically-labeled switches.
8 Likes
A much nicer bridge as a result.
“During construction, workers repaired or replaced the bridge’s foundations, concrete supports, deck and sidewalks. They also installed new, fixed steel beams over the bridge span formerly occupied by a bascule (drawbridge) in the middle of the structure and installed more than 450 pre-cast concrete panels.”
Unclear if they removed the control rooms. Probably. It’s been a while since I’ve paddled or motored under that bridge.
3 Likes
IIRC there are a pretty similar looking bridge and control room in one of the Half-Life episodes.
5 Likes
I’m glad we have something like artificialowl.net still updating
There’s a whole game about this
1 Like
I’m more impressed with the lack of graffiti tags inside the offices. That to me seems miraculous.
2 Likes
Sort of like Myst meets Fallout?
1 Like
Ah! I was thinking Wilson bridge. I never knew that Memorial bridge was a drawbridge!
2 Likes
I enjoy the art installation on the 14th st bridge myself.
“It’s perceptual,” Kim explained. “As you move around it – whether you’re in a boat, train or car – your movement is actually making the color change.”
The Operator’s Tower is one of the smallest installations she’s ever done, but she said it holds a special place in her heart. It gave her the chance to design something that people see as they enter the nation’s capital, after all.
“This idea of a kaleidoscope or a diversity of colors that work together to create something very beautiful, I think is really a symbol of what we are at our best,” she said. “It’s kind of a beacon.”
3 Likes
It makes me think of that level in Half Life 2 where you have to cross under the bridge
2 Likes
I didn’t scroll down far enough. You beat me to it
Half Life 2 was absolutely the specific game I was thinking of
2 Likes
I would mention what and who lives under the bridge, but you’d only accuse me of being a troll.
Anybody seen three billy goats around here?
1 Like
