Recent Vermont Comments

Despite a short burst silliness at the beginning of this vid it is well worth a watch for both the history it unfolds for this bridge, and for some of the rare imagery it shares.

Having a particular fondness for both images of wooden trusses under construction and those of falsework, I find the shots of the Deck Howe that preceded Storrs' Arch and its 160' falsework hugely interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVotRk3HS2A

A history of The QGB prepared for its National Register nomination - http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V11-30.htm

Come on, don't get me going again!

This is a screencap from a post Hurricane Irene PDF the Vermont Rail System put out:

Mary, I believe you are referring to the Vilas

Pics here - http://preservationinpink.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/vilas-bridge/

It's in a beautiful and storied spot, the site of Col. Hale's 1796 span. Background here - http://bridgewright.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/high-water/ - http://bridgewright.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/a-chasm-vast-and-deep-and-wide/

I'm going to edit this page - The spelling of the name needs correction, and the county needs changing, all bridges over the Connecticut belong to and are the financial responsibility of NH, so if it were to be listed in but one county that would better be Cheshire.

JUST BELOW THE BRIDGE STREET BRIDGE IS ANOTHER HISTORIC BRIDGE CALLED THE [VALE BRIDGE] BUILT IN 1930'S. IT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST ARCHED BRIDGES MADE ALL OF CONCRETE. THE BRIDGE IS CLOSED AT THIS TIME AND PLANS ARE TO FIX THE PROBLEMS IN THE NEAR FUTURE. THIS BRIDGE CROSSES A LARGE CHASAM FOR OVER FLOW OF THE CONNETICUTT RIVER. RUNS PARRELL WITH RAIL ROAD BRIDGE AND SITS JUST SOUTH OF IT. I WISH I HAD PICTURES OF IT. BUT I DO NOT AT THIS TIME.

YOU CAN GO TO GOOGLE EARTH AND SEE IT. IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

Bridge looks great! A great job done. Now if only my state (Missouri) could also learn to reuse and repair bridges instead of tearing them down.

Pictures from the reopening:

http://preservationinpink.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/richmond-checkered-house-bridge-opening/

Oooh. Looking at the HAER documents for the Upper Pacific Mills Bridge, the floor beams on that bridge were built-up plate triangular beams like the top chord. Possibly this bridge too had similar floor beams - at least originally. Again, I can't tell from the photos.

Also, those drawings for the Upper Pacific Mills Bridge reinforce the idea this is a tied-arch, not a truss.

By the usual definition of "truss", this is not a truss bridge because there are no triangles. A better term would be a tied arch. A pony tied-arch. No checkbox for _that_ here!

The lack of diagonals result in the vertical carrying only a tension load.

The counter arch is a real odd feature. It seems to me they are nearly useless. Inverted arches aren't especially useful. only be a benefit if the verticals are attached to it - not just passing through it. I can't tell from the 'photos if they are.

Anyway, I'm changing the design so it's similar to how it's listed for this other Moseley bridge.

http://bridgehunter.com/ma/essex/moseley/

Utterly amazing that this beauty sat in a landfill for 50 years and nobody scrapped it!

Very fortunate to say the least!

Patent # 59054 A - 1866 with improvements patented # 103765 A in '70

https://www.google.com/patents/US59054?dq=moseley+truss+bridge&hl=en&sa=X&ei=L5VuUrXOPJDykQeF0YG4Dg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ

I'm awaiting permission from the webpage to use their imagery.

Great to see!

I would suggest importing the article and images in this article be imported into the site as the links may not be permanent.

Also, the bridge's original site is listed in the article and the article implies that 1857 is the patent date and this bridge was built around 1865.

I grew up in Swanton and remember when the bridge burned down. It was the year I graduated from high school. It's been a long time now and I'm not 100% sure, but I don't believe that they ever caught the people responsible for burning down the bridge. Such a shame, it was a beautiful old bridge and I walked across it many times. It was a sad day when it was lost.

The bridge widening is complete: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/28/ceremony-marks-reopening-widened-bridge-vermont/CdKGFLy1nn267UEtXAlH4J/story.html

http://vtdigger.org/2013/03/17/in-this-state-2/

Another recent article about Vermont's truss bridge preservation program, with several mentions of the Checkered House Bridge.

It seems the signs are made from boards recovered from the old bridge. :)

Like Art said, web navigation is easier if the new is on the same page as the old.

But I have been digging some more. The new bridge is longer, wider, higher, and uses laminated lumber for some of the high load components. The abutments are fully modern construction with steel piles to bedrock. So the new one clearly is not an 1870 bridge.

I'm glad they choose to build a timber bridge with the same type truss and similar construction technics - but I'm beginning to think the new one can't be on the same listing as the old one - except as a related bridge.

An accurate recreation of a bridge recently washed away by a storm is about as good as it gets given the circumstances. If they took a few planks off the old bridge and incorporated them into this bridge, would it be considered a 'restoration' of the original? - that's what the do with old planes. Thus, my first argument is to keep it with the original because it is a bridge built to the original's specs in the original location so there is continuity.

My second argument is keep it together for ease of website navigation.

Why are there five photos of other covered bridges located in other states on this page???

Anyway - since it seems the new bridge at this location is new construction, I'm thinking it should not be a part of this page, bug get it's own new page - if it gets a page at all as it's certainly not historic now!

Thoughts?

On a positive note:

The Bartonsville Bridge was replicated and has reopened:

http://www.wcax.com/story/20714972/historic-bridge-back-open

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33952

Regards,

Art S.

Here is one of the articles featuring the rehabilitation and widening of the Checkered House Bridge in Modern Steel Construction (AISC).

http://www.modernsteel.com/SteelInTheNews/?p=1870

The link below is dead but the Sep 2012 issue of Civil Engineering magazine (from ASCE) has a story and photos of the work.

This is the name that the locals referred to the bridge by in the article about the widening and rehabilitation.

The article also mentions that 16 million is being spent on this where a new bridge could be built for about half. Certainly makes me wonder if it wouldn't have been better to have built that new bridge next to this one and then restored the old bridge for one way traffic. Seems like it would end up being cheaper in the end.

This bridge has not been demolished -- it is being widened and rehabilitated. See the following link:

http://www.reformer.com/ci_20827902/vermont-save-historic-bridge-unusual-expansion-project?source=most_emailed

A news article mentions that "Ultimately, Renaud Brothers replaced about half of the steel in the bridge, along with about 13,000 wrought iron rivets."

This preservation project was clearly a rehabilitation, NOT a restoration.

Good find. The Internet Archive has a higher quality scan of this book and you can link to it: http://www.archive.org/stream/proceedings0834amer#page/202/mode/2up Also, unlike Google, the good folks over at the Archive actually unfold the plan sheets in the book and scan those too. I found some beautiful measured drawings of the arch bridge here.

In researching the RR Bridge which predated the 1882 Iron Lattice which can be seen in the distance in this image, I turned up this amazingly detailed description of the construction of the Arch Bridge -

Click on the Photo and scroll around - good stuff

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Can you not use the Google Books clip feature here?

Go to > Google > More > Books > Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume 34, Part 1 - 202

you can see a actual photo of the bridge here http://www.flickr.com/photos/meeyauw/3260347907/in/photostream/lightbox/

thought how is a bailey truss better for traffic in this situation?

This bridge has also had a bailey truss installed between the original trusses.

bridge has had a bailey truss inserted in side the trusses of the original bridge for support.

Starting to notice a trend that Vermont likes to use bailey bridges to replace historic bridges.....hmmmmm.....

WOW! Unique example of a Lenticular through and pony truss together.

Great find!! Here's a couple more photos:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/12528552

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19054393

I do not believe this. This is crazy. I was randomly looking at Google for bridges, especially ones that were in VT, and came across this one and found out that it was not even listed on this site! What else is amazing is the fact that, other than the NRHP info, I could not find much other information about this bridge. So, here it is, please help!

This bridge was damaged by Hurricane Irene.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/damaged-historic-covered-bridge-spans-cox-brook-northfield-photo-180228839.html

Video footage of the actual washout available here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2095508065389&comments

This one was also lost to Irene

Shorpy posted a hi-def picture:

http://www.shorpy.com/node/10429?size=_original

This was a great looking bridge.

I remember this one from way back when.......what an absolute waste!!!

Nathan, I read a few of the other news clippings attached to your link. The bridge actually withstood FOUR (count 'em, FOUR) blast attempts to bring it down. They finally cut it apart at one end with blowtorches, & it finally fell down. And they'd closed the bridge years before for structural problems-ironic, isn't it? (no pun intended)

In case anyone was wondering how to identify a demolition project that is stupid and does nothing other than waste money and destroy history consider this bridge. So-called demolition "experts" attempted to blow this bridge up TWO TIMES with hundreds of explosives and the bridge didn't even collapse. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9MFaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DFkDAAAAIBAJ&dq=historic%20bridge&pg=1837%2C1327969

Rail service ceased ca. 1990; last use was for excursions out of Morrisville, Vt. on Lamoille Valley RR

Somebody get some plywood and cover this historic metal truss bridge up! The only way the goofs that run this state preserve anything is if they think its a covered bridge.

I agree, red would be a great choice. Don't see enough bridges in this color. I do like silver however too.

Too many Green and Silver ones.......Red stands out nicely!

As of 2010 has been rehabilitated, currently under discussion what color to paint it. Green and Silver currently in close contention, but Red newly emerging as a dark horse in the race. Red! Red! Red!

This bridge has been replaced.

So glad to see some rennovation on a thru-truss! Even if its just rehab work, I love seeing a bridge being maintained and not destroyed!

Lord, I hope so. According to newspaper articles I read on vandals caught burning covered bridges, judges are not lenient, nor are the folks who treasure the victim span that parished.

Did they ever catch the idiots who did it?

Most know I gripe on here about boneheads defacing historic bridges with cans of spraypaint... (sigh)

Well, with my father a native of Rush county, Indiana, I have a passion for the covered bridges. Reading about idiots who burn these relics get to me kind of in a worse fashion. A cigarette lighter or match is more hated by me than the stupid fools with spraypaint cans.

I do enjoy Tony Dillon's continued placing pictures of the Moscow Covered Bridge, as it rises from being taken out by a tornado. I been over that bridge as a child, and last seen it summer 2001. I would like to take a roadtrip to my father's homeland as soon as the two span structure is reopened.

Christian,

The bridge you and the article are pointing to is this bridge in Connecticut: http://www.bridgehunter.com/ct/new-london/bh44676/ and by the way, those news articles about the bridge have been misleading. Its the oldest stone bridge in Connecticut, but not the USA. Choate Bridge http://www.historicbridges.org/massachusetts/choate/ and Frankford Avenue Bridge both have it beat: http://bridgehunter.com/pa/philadelphia/frankford-avenue/

This bridge was washed away by flooding. It was the oldest known free-standing stone bridge in America. Here is the article...

http://www.wfsb.com/weather/23014324/detail.html

I used to live in Vermont, and this bridge was part of the way home to my parent's house. I am afraid to report that the bridge was lost. In 2007, Vermont Department of Transportation inspectors found the bridge had markedly deteriorated and reduced its rating to 3 tons. Article: http://www.aot.state.vt.us/PressReleases/2007/August/VTransWeightRestrictsMorrisville.htm If you read the article, they planned at that time to remove the bridge within months of this release. It appears the bridge was removed in the latter months of 2007 and replaced by a temporary bridge strong enough to handle truck traffic. The bridge was a Tenney Truss Bridge, and I thought that it was a very attractive bridge. I have missed it the times I have returned to Vermont since its removal.

Wow, it looks candy coated like a museum piece or something.

WOW. Vermont knows how to maintain trusses. They are cousins to the covered spans you know.

this bridge has been closed for months-no through traffic