Facts
- Overview
- Covered bridge over Black Warrior River on Horton Mill Road
- Location
- Blount County, Alabama
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1934; rehabilitated 1974
- Design
- Covered Lattice through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 80.1 ft.
Total length: 208.0 ft.
Deck width: 11.2 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 8.5 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on December 29, 1970
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +34.01625, -86.44858 (decimal degrees)
34°00'58" N, 86°26'55" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Inventory numbers
- WGCB 01-05-07 (World Guide to Covered Bridges number)
NRHP 70000099 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 10077 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 12/2004)
- Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 0.0 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2004)
- 110
Comments
Actually, Niki, there were six historic covered bridges built in Blount County. The fifth one is the 432-foot Standridge Covered Bridge which was located near Hayden. It burnt down in 1967. The sixth one is the Lidy Walker Covered Bridge...built in Blount County in 1926 and moved to Berlin in Cullman County in 1958. Unfortunately, the bridge collapsed in 2001 and no longer exists. Of course, the 385-foot Nectar Covered Bridge you mentioned burned down in 1993. The Swann, Horton Mill and Easley covered bridges are the only three that remain in Blount County.
This bridge was closed to severe damage from vandalism. I have the article in the "Blount Countian" that gave specifics, though I don't have it with me. It was something akin to vandals tying a rope to a main beam and the other end to their vehicle and yanking everything out of whack so bad it was and still is unsafe. Unfortunately, I left the article at my mom's, but I will update when I have specifics.
All I can say is it amazes me how mean, spiteful, idiotic, stupid, etc. etc. people can be. Blount County has already lost one historic covered bridge (the Nectar Bridge) to vandals (fire). I can only hope this US record holder (highest covered bridge over water) can be fixed eventually.
The Horton Mill Covered Bridge was reported closed to motor traffic on September 27, 2007 due to unsafe conditions. I was at the bridge in late October and noticed truss damage on the west side of the bridge. The Blount Countian did a news article about the closing, so I will get with them in regards to a better reason at to a cause. So far, no maintenance work has been done to the bridge...most likely due to no money set aside for repairs since it was an unscheduled event. Therefore, the bridge remains closed to motor traffic.
On September 29th my daughter and I revisted this bridge. It is closed to traffic and boarded up. We are not sure why.