One Lane Bridge

A snowy night. A drive through a mountain canyon. "Nothing bad happens if I'm late" thinks 16-year-old Eli as he creeps along this winding road. He doesn't know anything about his soon-to-be passenger, Samantha, except that she's a friend of a friend and needs a ride to The Home Depot. But Eli is glad for the company, especially considering the stuff that's been going on in his town. Soon, though, Eli's terrible driving sparks an argument, and the conversation takes an odd, dark turn. Eli and Samantha tell stories designed to scare each other. Eli's story is haunting, but he's out of his league. Once Samantha tells her story, Eli finds himself driving too fast, not because he's going to be late, but because he wants out of that car. Eli's not going to make it to Home Depot.

What J. D. needs is a little peace and quiet. He is trying to run two restaurants, keep his daughter from dropping out of college, and satisfy his lonely, aging mother. Cash begins to disappear from one of the restaurants, and he and his wife argue about how to deal with the problem. One tranquil evening, J. D. takes off on a ride in the country to clear his mind. Top down, setting sun, wind in his hair ... leak in the radiator. When he walks up to an old farmhouse to ask for water, he finds a family living in poverty, and vows to help. When he returns with groceries, he can't find them or the house—although he's not lost. While J. D. struggles to make sense of this mystery, his behavior creates doubt in his marriage, and even his best friend thinks he's crazy. And when he solves it, his life is changed forever.

Having decided to take a year off between college and law school to work on a road construction project, twenty-three-year-old Simon Kozlowski is dismayed when he learns his job has been eliminated before it even started. Far from his Hiawatha, New Jersey home and without transportation, Simon falls into the graces of Alisha Caldwell, a sophisticated but mysterious socialite who claims she is an artist and businesswoman. Simon agrees to work for the forty-one-year-old single mother in a job he never imagined himself doing providing companionship and childcare to five-year-old Corey Caldwell. As time passes, Simon slowly learns that all is not what it seems. There are secrets everywhere he turns in the Caldwell's house, in the lives of Alisha and Corey, and in the lives of his family. Working to unravel these mysteries leads Simon deeper into the human heart than he's ever dared go and into a life he never imagined himself living. He wonders if he's in control of his own destiny.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 327: Cost-Effective Practices for Off-System and Local Interest Bridges examines off-system bridge design, construction, maintenance, financing, rehabilitation, and replacement. For this report, 'off-system' refers to those bridges typically owned and maintained by local agencies, and by state agencies on rural and other low-volume roads.

Southern Erie County, around North Collins, was originally inhabited by the Seneca Nation of Native Americans. Beginning in the late 1790s, English Quakers moving west from New England arrived, and as the 1800s progressed, waves of German and Italian immigrants followed, seeking political and economic stability. Later, immigrants of other nationalities settled in the area, adding their contributions to this area of rich diversity. Around North Collins contains a unique combination of vintage photographs and historical knowledge on North Collins and fourteen other communities: Shirley, Langford, Clarksburg, New Oregon, Marshfield, Collins Center, Collins, Gowanda, Lawtons Station, Brant, Farnham, Angola, Pontiac, and Kerr's Corners. The photographs, many of which have never before been published, come from the collections of local historians, historical societies, and area families. Pictured are people at home, at school, at ceremonies, and at work, using the tools of their craft.