Found some older highway documentaries on Youtube today:
US Route 66 Modern Marvels (Mind the helium huff, I think it goes away with a video slow down)
Pacific Coast Highway Modern Marvels
Autobahn Modern Marvels
Super Highways Modern Marvels
Alaskan Highway Modern Marvels
Overseas Highway Modern Marvels
Why does the History Channel show $#!++y documentaries in place of shows like these nowadays?
Funny you should post this, I recently watched the ones about superhighways and the Autobahn.
I wish there were more documentaries like these, except newer.
Quote from: pumpkineater2 on April 17, 2016, 06:50:26 PM
Funny you should post this, I recently watched the ones about superhighways and the Autobahn.
I wish there were more documentaries like these, except newer.
Doubt we'll get them anymore from the History Channel or Nat Geo, it's hard to find anything that isn't reality TV based on either of them anymore. Personally I would like to see something on the following:
- The U.S. Highway System
- Trans Canada Highway
- Route 1 Australia
- Trans Siberian Highway
- Select highways like US Route 99
California's Gold with Huell Howser (RIP, California misses you)
He did an episode about the Ridge Route (Old 99, now I-5 through northern Los Angeles County & southern Kern County) & one on El Camino Real (U.S. 101).
I wonder if he ever did one on the Arroyo Seco Parkway (CA-110), California's first freeway.
It sucks that a lot of California PBS stations are phasing out his programming. It seems not all episodes are on the Chapman University archives.
Crappy thing is that I can find most of his shows on Youtube but not any of the highway ones. All I found was a preview for the El Camino Real episode.
Not sure if it counts as a highway documentary, but SoCal PBS recently aired the Globe Trekker episode of Argentina Route 40.
The host only did a short history on the highway & talked about how it involved revolutionary leader Che Guevara.
Its a pretty interesting episode.
QuoteWhy does the History Channel show $#!++y documentaries in place of shows like these nowadays?
Probably because most of the viewing public isn't nearly interested in roads as members of this forum...
Quote from: froggie on May 10, 2016, 07:13:26 AM
QuoteWhy does the History Channel show $#!++y documentaries in place of shows like these nowadays?
Probably because most of the viewing public isn't nearly interested in roads as members of this forum...
Yeah more of a rhetorical question, it just seems like channels that used to teach you something like History and Discovery are flooded by reality TV or total trash about pyramid building aliens. More or less it's catering to the lowest common denominator for ratings since most of the shows are in on prime time. Sometimes History still shows Modern Marvels early in the morning or midday or even on H2.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 10, 2016, 07:50:33 AM
Quote from: froggie on May 10, 2016, 07:13:26 AM
QuoteWhy does the History Channel show $#!++y documentaries in place of shows like these nowadays?
Probably because most of the viewing public isn't nearly interested in roads as members of this forum...
Yeah more of a rhetorical question, it just seems like channels that used to teach you something like History and Discovery are flooded by reality TV or total trash about pyramid building aliens. More or less it's catering to the lowest common denominator for ratings since most of the shows are in on prime time. Sometimes History still shows Modern Marvels early in the morning or midday or even on H2.
Well, they ain't gonna make money showing something only 15 people are interested in watching.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on May 10, 2016, 09:52:15 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 10, 2016, 07:50:33 AM
Quote from: froggie on May 10, 2016, 07:13:26 AM
QuoteWhy does the History Channel show $#!++y documentaries in place of shows like these nowadays?
Probably because most of the viewing public isn't nearly interested in roads as members of this forum...
Yeah more of a rhetorical question, it just seems like channels that used to teach you something like History and Discovery are flooded by reality TV or total trash about pyramid building aliens. More or less it's catering to the lowest common denominator for ratings since most of the shows are in on prime time. Sometimes History still shows Modern Marvels early in the morning or midday or even on H2.
Well, they ain't gonna make money showing something only 15 people are interested in watching.
Then aren't they basically reality TV channels then? Why even call them History or The Learning Channel if you aren't going to learn anything? This is basically why I didn't have cable for about 5 years, it's basically become shovel feed programming on most channels Hell I can't even find racing half the time because it's on some weird off kilter channel I've never heard of. Hell this all started with MTV not showing actual music videos anymore in the 90s and progressed to this point.
i would not classify this particular film as a documentary, it was more of an educational film, an old-style 16 MM talking film that I had seen on a projector in class (maybe 20 minutes long, give or take). I saw it one time in the early 1980's back when I was a graduate student in Transportation at Georgia Tech. It was dated even then. It was apparently produced by or for the Michigan Highway Dept.
It was film about the design features of the new system of Interstate Highways. The film background examples were of early Michigan freeways and interchanges, probably around 1960. What I best remember are the co-signed I-94 and US 12 sign assemblies as well as I-96 and US 16. It has to be old and rare, based on that signage. It also showed early type bridge structures, singing and marking and vintage cars. I have searched for this on YouTube and other sites for years with no luck. I would love to be able to see this again. I figure that film would be of interest to most regular readers of this forum. Has anybody ever seen or heard of this film?
Quote from: RoadWarrior56 on May 10, 2016, 10:20:13 AM
i would not classify this particular film as a documentary, it was more of an educational film, an old-style 16 MM talking film that I had seen on a projector in class (maybe 20 minutes long, give or take). I saw it one time in the early 1980's back when I was a graduate student in Transportation at Georgia Tech. It was dated even then. It was apparently produced by or for the Michigan Highway Dept.
It was film about the design features of the new system of Interstate Highways. The film background examples were of early Michigan freeways and interchanges, probably around 1960. What I best remember are the co-signed I-94 and US 12 sign assemblies as well as I-96 and US 16. It has to be old and rare, based on that signage. It also showed early type bridge structures, singing and marking and vintage cars. I have searched for this on YouTube and other sites for years with no luck. I would love to be able to see this again. I figure that film would be of interest to most regular readers of this forum. Has anybody ever seen or heard of this film?
I found something like that a while back and posted it I believe in a FritzOwl thread. It was basically an almost 30 minute video of some sort of town hall discussion in a fictional town called "Connersville" about route 110 being upgraded to an Interstate. I for the life of me can't find it now or remember what it was called but I'll have to see if I can find it in my posts when I get home. I would love to see the Michigan video you're talking about since I'm originally from Detroit.
I did find a 1997 PBS documentary based on a book I had read called "Divided Highways". I had also seen the PBS show back when it had aired. It is about the history of the Interstate system as well as some of the controversy and effects on the country related to its construction. The YouTube link is below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLr-8QPbiAY
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 10, 2016, 07:50:33 AM
Quote from: froggie on May 10, 2016, 07:13:26 AM
QuoteWhy does the History Channel show $#!++y documentaries in place of shows like these nowadays?
Probably because most of the viewing public isn't nearly interested in roads as members of this forum...
Yeah more of a rhetorical question, it just seems like channels that used to teach you something like History and Discovery are flooded by reality TV or total trash about pyramid building aliens. More or less it's catering to the lowest common denominator for ratings since most of the shows are in on prime time. Sometimes History still shows Modern Marvels early in the morning or midday or even on H2.
H2 is no more... It's been replaced by Viceland..
I love ancient aliens... Gotta love Giorgio's crazy hair
I saw a show on Australian ABC ( available on Hulu in US) about Australia's love affair with cars.. It was good.. Nice to see some car culture from Down Under..
Quote from: jwolfer on May 10, 2016, 01:57:47 PM
H2 is no more... It's been replaced by Viceland..
Noticed the same thing on my cable system. So did A&E dump the H2 channel entirely, or was the change a decision by the cable provider?
The only way to get good highway documentaries is to either start a YouTube channel yourself that is oriented towards this niche audience, or to get the FHWA/AASHTO/etc. involved and have them produce something.
There is a thread in this forum from several years ago that links to a relatively long documentary about US 30 in parts of east and central Iowa, circa 1960. It is an interesting watch. Maybe somebody can relink to it.
IIRC, PBS had a Ken Burns piece on the Brooklyn Bridge, for those of us into bridges, it was pretty good.
Also, I recall another PBS (I think) show that was on neon signs. Always fun spotting a 'good' animated neon sign unexpectedly and that show was like a 1/2 hour of them. Sorry, don't recall the title.
Quote from: Bruce on May 10, 2016, 03:29:09 PM
The only way to get good highway documentaries is to either start a YouTube channel yourself that is oriented towards this niche audience, or to get the FHWA/AASHTO/etc. involved and have them produce something.
There is stuff like the ADOT channel for Arizona or even Roamin Rich for old US 66 alignments which are both pretty decent watches. Problem with the both of them along with others is that they tend not to have the funding or subscriber count to crank out a ton of videos.
Quote from: jwolfer on May 10, 2016, 01:57:47 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 10, 2016, 07:50:33 AM
Quote from: froggie on May 10, 2016, 07:13:26 AM
QuoteWhy does the History Channel show $#!++y documentaries in place of shows like these nowadays?
Probably because most of the viewing public isn't nearly interested in roads as members of this forum...
Yeah more of a rhetorical question, it just seems like channels that used to teach you something like History and Discovery are flooded by reality TV or total trash about pyramid building aliens. More or less it's catering to the lowest common denominator for ratings since most of the shows are in on prime time. Sometimes History still shows Modern Marvels early in the morning or midday or even on H2.
H2 is no more... It's been replaced by Viceland..
I love ancient aliens... Gotta love Giorgio's crazy hair
Shows how far out of the loop I was for all those years....dare I ask the fate of History International? Also, who was that that Egyptoligist guy that was on that show that basically was ripping off all his theories from Star Gate? :-D
Quote from: RoadWarrior56 on May 10, 2016, 11:03:40 AM
I did find a 1997 PBS documentary based on a book I had read called "Divided Highways". I had also seen the PBS show back when it had aired. It is about the history of the Interstate system as well as some of the controversy and effects on the country related to its construction. The YouTube link is below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLr-8QPbiAY
Someone ought to show FritzOwl the section about the inner Boston Beltway. That was surprisingly engaging documentary, sat through the whole thing just now.
Cathy Wurzer of the Twin Cities PBS did a documentary about US 61 in Minnesota. I haven't watched it but I've read the accompanying book.
Had a professor at UMass that was a consultant on Divided Highways.
There's been at least 2 or 3 that covered Boston's Big Dig. Here's one of them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfLLaFD0zAY
Quote from: PHLBOS on May 12, 2016, 01:13:16 PM
There's been at least 2 or 3 that covered Boston's Big Dig. Here's one of them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfLLaFD0zAY
David Macaulay's Building Big series covered the Big Dig in its Tunnel episode.
PBS also did a Great Projects series; the Big Dig was one of its episodes (especially focusing on Fred Salvucci).
Thanks for making my day!
There's a 3-episode BBC Documentary about the UK motorway network. It was commissioned for the niche channel BBC4, so has less of those populist documentary bad habits (that we in the UK blame on America) of repeating everything lots and 'sexing' stuff up to make it more exciting.
The first episode, which traces the early history of the network, talking with engineers/designers, the navvies that did the grunt work, and residents that were near at the time (and still are now, or rather were 8 years ago when they made the doc).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcFLjj0napE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2srR9wMM1k
edit: remade post after watching. Can't find the second episode, and only can find half the third.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7z4neS6h0g
From last fall: A documentary from the Twin Cities PBS about the history of I-94 through Minneapolis and St. Paul, largely focused on the darker side of the route's construction through western St. Paul.
https://www.pbs.org/video/tpt-co-productions-interstate-94-history-and-its-impact/
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on May 28, 2018, 10:26:27 PM
From last fall: A documentary from the Twin Cities PBS about the history of I-94 through Minneapolis and St. Paul, largely focused on the darker side of the route's construction through western St. Paul.
https://www.pbs.org/video/tpt-co-productions-interstate-94-history-and-its-impact/
Speaking of that, they also have a documentary about the origin of Highway 100, or Lilac Drive. It's very interesting (and kind of saddening) to compare what existed then to the generic concrete everything that exists along MN-100 today.
https://video.tpt.org/video/tpt-documentaries-highway-100-lilac-drive/
Quote from: Bruce on May 10, 2016, 03:29:09 PM
The only way to get good highway documentaries is to either start a YouTube channel yourself that is oriented towards this niche audience, or to get the FHWA/AASHTO/etc. involved and have them produce something.
Start a YouTube channel, and hope the insanely zealous copyright police don't pull down your postings (as has happened with 99% of the links in this thread).