Ramp Covered Bridge 38-21-11
Description
Author Paul E. Gill states the following details in his book "...Drive the Road and Bridge the Ford...": Highway Bridges of Nineteenth Century Cumberland County.Bridge built at the cost of $2,173.
Significant dates: September 1866 - Initial petition for a bridge on this site; Jan. 25, 1881 - Contract awarded; Jan. 13, 1882 - Inspected; 1967 - Extensive repairs made; 1991 - there was an arsonist attempt but his efforts were thwarted In regards to the date, NBI states built in 1870 Gill's book states 1882 which I suspect is based on Cumberland County records as he notes the initial petition in 1866 was rejected by the grand Jury, and a second petition was approved on 1873. The County Commissioners didn't even enter into a contract with Myers until 1881.
Another conflict with NBI data: Dimensions: 130' length, 18'11" width
Old wooden signs read (no longer in existence): 12'1" clearance and another sign says "Warning Capacity 5 Tons"
Facts
- Overview
- Covered bridge over Conodoguinet Creek on TR 374 (Covered Bridge Road)
- Location
- Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1882, extensive repairs in 1967
- Builder
- - Samuel Myers
- Design
- Covered Burr arch-truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 109.9 ft.
Total length: 115.2 ft.
Deck width: 15.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 11.2 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1980
- Also called
- Failors Mill Bridge
Ramps Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.13625, -77.52350 (decimal degrees)
40°08'10" N, 77°31'25" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/285011/4445932 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Newburg
- Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
- 248
- Inventory numbers
- PA 21 7203 0374 3626 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
NRHP 80003480 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
WGCB 38-21-11 (World Guide to Covered Bridges number)
PANBI 14063 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30817 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of June 2017)
- Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 19.9 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- October 26, 2021: New photos from Josh Schmid
- October 8, 2021: Updated by Brian R. Warren: Updated closure status
- July 9, 2014: New photos from Andrew Raker
- March 3, 2014: Photos imported by Dave King
- December 15, 2011: Photo imported by Jodi Christman
- July 3, 2011: Updated by Jodi Christman: Added details from Paul Gill's "Drive the Roads..." book
- January 27, 2011: New photo from Jodi Christman
- January 23, 2011: New photo from Jodi Christman
- September 6, 2010: New photos from Jodi Christman
Sources
- Dale Travis Covered Bridge List
- Jodi Christman - masterofchaos [at] outlook [dot] com
- Wikipedia
- Andrew Raker
- Brian R. Warren
- Josh Schmid
Comments
I visited this bridge today. It is currently closed to traffic and under repairs. I expect it will be reopened when the repairs are complete.
I guess in keeping with the rustic charm of the covered bridge that "Clearance logs" are better than steel beams. But from a photographers perspective they are still a hindrance and should be placed far enough from the portal to allow an unobstructed view.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/pa/cumberland/ramp/
Bridge has reopened as of October 23