Bartonsville Covered Bridge 45-13-11x
Videos
Bartonsville Covered Bridge found downstream Bartonsville Covered Bridge, spanned the Williams River in Lower Baronsville, Vermont. Built in 1870. Destroyed by Hurricane Irene flood 8/28/11. Washed downstream one-quarter mile. Video From Youtube | |
Caught on tape: Irene's flooding takes out bridge Amateur footage provided by Susan Hammond shows flooding from Irene's torrential rain taking out a covered bridge in lower Bartonsville, Vermont. Video From Youtube |
Description
In 1869, the Williams River flooded and changed it's course. This bridge was built in 1870 to span the new channel.Tropical storm Irene in caused the river to flood an on 2011 Aug 28 the bridge was washed 0.5 miles downstream. On November 1, 2011 the Rockingham select board agreed to build a new covered bridge at the site. The new bridge opened 2013 Jan 26
Facts
- Overview
- Lost covered bridge over Williams River on C3008 (Lower Bartonsville Rd) in Rockingham
- Location
- Windham County, Vermont
- Status
- Destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Irene on Aug 28, 2011
- History
- Built 1870; rehabilitated 1982; destroyed 2011; Replace with a new bridge 2013 Jan 26
- Builder
- - Sanford Granger of Chesterfield, Cheshire, New Hampshire
- Design
- Covered Through truss
Town Lattice Truss - Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 142.1 ft.
Total length: 157.2 ft.
Deck width: 14.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 8.5 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1973
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +43.22333, -72.53667 (decimal degrees)
43°13'24" N, 72°32'12" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/700057/4788562 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Saxtons River
- Inventory numbers
- NRHP 73000201 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
WGCB 45-13-11x (World Guide to Covered Bridges number)
BH 34069 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 07/2008)
- Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 17.6 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2008)
- 450
Update Log
- February 17, 2014: New photos from Jack Schmidt
- November 9, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added builder
- January 28, 2013: Updated by Fmiser: Expanded description, updated history to mention the new replacement.
- January 28, 2013: New photos from Robert Myers
- November 6, 2011: Updated by John Borthwick securevermont.com: Plans to replace with new covered bridge
- August 30, 2011: New video from Nathan Holth
- August 28, 2011: Updated by Tony Dillon: Destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Irene
- October 14, 2009: Updated by C Hanchey: Bridge is known as the Bartonsville Covered Bridge; added NRHP info
Sources
- C Hanchey - cmh2315fl [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Brian McKee - bjmckee51 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Nathan Holth
- John Borthwick
- Dale Travis Covered Bridge List
- Robert Myers - bob [dot] jeeper [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Fmiser - fmiser [at] gmail [dot] com
- Luke
- Jack Schmidt - jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net
Comments
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.
Video footage of the actual washout available here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2095508065389&comm...
This one was also lost to Irene
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/vt/windham/101314004413141/
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.