This scene of a flat Interstate highway could be anywhere. On Interstate 16 near Savannah? Or on Interstate 26 near Charleston? Maybe Interstate 55 in Mississippi or 65 in Alabama? How about I-40 near Wilmington? (Answer: I-16 at Exit 132, Ash Branch Church Road in Bryan County just north of Pembroke, Ga.)
What’s so familiar about the scene is that there are miles and miles of little development between large cities. Over the last 50 years, Interstates connected America in new ways never imagined years earlier, but that connectedness started an outpouring of talent and people from rural areas to cities and the suburbs. Bryan County, which is in Savannah’s metro area, has a poverty rate of 14.7 percent.
Photo taken Feb. 16, 2014, by Andy Brack. All rights reserved.