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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Middlebury Bridge Committee Reviews Pulp Mill Covered Bridge Pulp Mill Bridge Update
Vermont Covered Bridge Funding Correction - The Covered Spans of Yesteryear Article
The Covered Bridge - A Poem Passings Covered Bridge Community News Notes
Letters Membership Column President's Column
Anthony Daniels, builder of the new Mill Covered Bridge in Tunbridge, will speak about building and renovating covered bridges. The meeting will be held in the basement of the Martin Memorial Hall & Town offices located on US Route 5 one block north of the junction with VT 131. There is plenty of parking in rear. Attendees may bring covered bridge items for sale or swap. The snack table will be open. The meeting will begin at 10 AM with a short business meeting, followed by the speaker. A catered dinner will be served at noon; roast beef, potatoes, veggie, beverage, and dessert. Attendees who want the catered dinner are asked to mail a check for $10 per person to the VCBS, Neil Daniels, 90 E. Camp Road, Weathersfield, VT05156. Also, make reservations by contacting Neil at neildaniels2003@yahoo.com or 802.885.5517 and pay at the meeting. The deadline for dinner reservations is October 15. After dinner car pools will be formed in the parking lot for a guided tour of the Salmond and the Upper Falls covered bridges by bridge-wrights Neil and Tony Daniels. Bring your cameras. Folks who need overnight accommodations may contact the Comfort Inn, 8 Sykes Ave, 802.295.3051; Super 8, US 5 South, 802.295.7577; Best Western, 306 N Hartland Rd.(US 5), 802.295.3015; Hampton Inn, 104 Ballardvale Dr., 802.296.2800: All in White River Junction. Accommodations are also available in Windsor and in Springfield but are pricey. For your convenience a dinner reservation slip and a map are provided in this issue. Return to Top |
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By Jim Ligon
This Town lattice bridge has been neglected for so long it's sad. It was in use for traffic until the new highway bridge was constructed. Following that, it was open to pedestrians for a time. Several years ago it was deemed unsafe for even pedestrians, and closed. Hammond Bridge has many problems. Other than neglect, the three contributing factors that stand out are: 1) original construction - chord butt joints are too close to each other; 2) repairs made after the 1927 flood - lattice members broken in the flood were not replaced or sistered, the missing length was simply extended with a new piece; 3) distribution beams added in the 1950's - originally intended to distribute the floor beam loading over several members. When the distribution beam timbers shrunk it added a point load to only one hanger. This is a common problem I encounter in covered bridges. Stuff We Found - The east portal is racked about 2 feet to the south; There is a severe "S" curve in the bridge - (it should be straight line); There are broken lower bottom chords; Upper top chords have "slipped by" each other in plane as much as 3 inches, thus the upper cross tie beam notches are not holding the opposing top chords together; Rotten top chords - through drilling for temp x-bracing at the portal areas revealed hollow or punky chords. The bat population is thriving in this structure - about 50 adults live here full time. They have cute little bats, too! Bat guano is soooo... nice to work in! Pigeons have found a very nice nesting spot for all their eggs - there are hundreds of those too! The thousands of spiders that live in the bridge bite - they aren't supposed to be poisonous, but my doctor says if the bite doesn't heal I have to have surgery to evacuate the venom. That bite was 3 weeks ago and I'm still taking antibiotics! [Jim Ligon is Project Superintendent for Alpine Construction, of N.Y. Bridgers can track the progress of the work by going to http://members.localnet.com/~jligon/Alpine/Hammond/ -Ed.] Return to Top |
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By Joe Nelson
Invited to the discussions were Deputy Historic Officer Eric Gilbertson, of the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, and Jan Lewandoski, owner of Restoration and Traditional Building, the bridge-wright who has done the most recent work on the Pulp Mill Bridge. Also invited were engineers from the Engineering firm McFarlane-Johnson, Inc. of Binghamton, N.Y., the Weybridge Selectboard, and the public. The meeting was moderated by long time member of the bridge committee, Skip Brush: "We've spent the last several months looking at what alternatives there are for an additional bridge across Otter Creek to carry a full load of traffic and we preliminarily concluded . . . that there really is a need for two crossings in town. We need to get one established before we can address some of the other transportation needs . . . The only other crossing beside the Battell bridge is the Pulp Mill Bridge . . . which obviously was not built for modern traffic size-wise and weight, and it has a number of structural problems that we need to address no matter what we do. The ideas quoted are: we can replace the bridge, we can build a parallel bridge, we can build a new covered bridge that could carry emergency services." Fred Long, Town of Middlebury Planner reviewed potential bridge sites and why the committee is zooming in on the Pulp Mill Bridge site and the Cross Street Bridge site. Said Long: "We looked at a new or parallel Pulp Mill bridge as an option, we looked at something in the area of the railroad underpass, Seymour Street over to Weybridge Street as a route, the Cross Street which we build from the intersection of Main and College Streets. When all of the potential sites were studied, the committee concluded that something still needed to be done with Pulp Mill Bridge, said Long. ". . . it either needs to be rehabilitated once again, or replaced or paralleled or something. So we attended a meeting with Jan Lewandoski and the Covered Bridge Committee [of] the Agency of Transportation, we learned some new information about [the bridge]. It isn't as historic as we thought, [and] there are some inherent flaws in it that will influence what decisions are made here . . . ." Said Eric Gilbertson: "The Pulp Mill Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places. It's the only double-barreled covered bridge in Vermont . . . and the work that's done on it should meet the Secretary of the Interior's standards for dealing with historic preservation projects: You should replace things in kind if possible, and the general configuration of the bridge shouldn't change." Gilbertson went on to say that the Pulp Mill Bridge should be rehabilitated and kept in use on its present site. "The state . . .seeks to preserve Vermont's covered bridges and one of the things that we have put in the plan is that keeping a bridge in use is important in its preservation for a couple of reasons. One is that there is a reason to maintain it, and secondly, there is money available for bridges that are in use that is not available for bridges that are not in use. Senator Jeffords has put a significant amount of money into covered bridges nationally and in Vermont as well, several million dollars a year and that money is not available for bridges that are not in the transportation system." Said a member of the audience: "You said, keeping it in use,'and frankly, by keeping this bridge in use, we're killing it. We can probably . . . strengthen it. . . . [but] in this instance . . . we cannot do anything to this bridge to allow it to carry ambulances, fire trucks, any kind of a major emergency vehicle, due to the size of the bridge. It's a wonderful bridge, but they do not fit, and believe me there are some who've tried . . ." "I understand," replied Gilbertson. "I look for the best solution, not necessarily the ideal solution, I doubt if we are going to find an ideal solution. The ideal solution would be to find the money to restore that bridge limited to light use traffic, cars and trucks, and have another bridge for other traffic." To the proposition of building a new bridge parallel to the old, Gilbertson said, "We have done that . . . it's a temporary solution. One definition of temporary is anything short of forever. To me it's not the ideal solution because it's a visual thing, but is it a solution that would work here? Certainly, [but] there is a federal regulation that if you use federal funds to put an alternate bridge in, you can't use federal funds to fix the old bridge. If the new bridge was at a significantly different location and the Pulp Mill Bridge maintains that local light traffic, then [federal money could be used on both bridges], it is my understanding." "[The pulp Mill Bridge]" said Jan Lewandoski. "I know it well because I have worked on it extensively. When I first worked on it, the date that was being kicked around was 1812 to 1820...The timber wasn't long enough, big enough, or good enough for that date. I went to the Weybridge town records and found a selectman's order to pay a person to go to Essex to get the design for the bridge at the paper mill. Lola Bennet of the Historical American Engineering Record for the National Park Service [ascertained from] Middlebury records and selectmen's commentary and cost figures that 1851 was the date of that bridge. "In Essex at that time, John Johnson, a builder in the Burlington area from the 1790's to the 1830's, built a big double barreled [bridge] with Burr arches like Pulp Mill. I believe the person went there, didn't look at it carefully enough and made a crucial error when they built the bridge. "The bridge was built with 200 feet of clear span originally. Probably not long after it was built, it started failing. The mistake they made in building this bridge was that the kingposts are necked down and dropped between the chords. [The kingposts] both pick the chords up and also take the load delivered on the brace that carries all the weight further on the bridge. They didn't shoulder the kingposts into the chords, nor did they put a sheer block behind the kingpost. All they had was a single bolt transfixing the bottom of the kingpost. The brace starts delivering a load down to the kingpost, the load accumulates as it goes toward the abutments and becomes very large. At all of the heavily loaded locations, the post is first bent, both top and bottom, distorted a bit, and then cracked around the bolt and pushed backwards. As soon as you start getting those small differences, you start dropping the bridge. The people knew about it right aw ay.. They started by adding arches, eventually they sub-divided it into three bridges." The bridge was meant to be 200 feet long in a single span, said Lewandoski. It is now divided into three sixty-foot spans with "so much timber piled up in that bridge . . . no one is going to drop your car through the bottom of that bridge, I don't believe . . . the bridge (is) going to fall down and the weight of vehicles on it isn't going to kill it . . . but, the entry is too small. The bridge is littered with side-view mirrors. Anything of any size cannot go through that bridge. It's not a question of weight going through that bridge. The bridge's own deadweight, is bigger than vehicle weight. It's geometry is too small." Asked how long before the Pulp Mill Bridge fails, Lewandoski replied: "Decades. The Pulp Mill won't fall down for decades. If you keep a roof on it, It may never fall down . . . I don't think it's a life-safety issue, I don't think anyone will be killed in that bridge. . . " [To see the full text of this meeting, go to www.vermontbridges.com/middlebury%20mtg.htm. Also, an audio tape of the meeting can be made available for cost. - Joe Nelson] Return to Top |
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By Irene Barna Middlebury, Aug. 5, 2005 - The timing of the announcement of the Federal dollars for the highway/rail infrastructure of western Vermont and the inclusion of dollars for Pulp Mill Bridge in such proximity to the meeting of July 15 made it unnecessary for me to write an update on a Town decision. It was apparent at that meeting that Pulp Mill Bridge needed to stay where it was, kept in service, and the site not chosen for an additional Otter Creek crossing. This sense was pretty much the understanding of the Select board after hearing covered bridge restorer Jan Lewandoski and Eric Gilbertson, of the state Division for Historic Preservation. For the story regarding Middlebury, the highway funding bill, and the Pulp Mill Bridge, go to: http://www.addisonindependent.com/News/080405bridge.html [In a nutshell, according to the referenced Addison Independent article, The Pulp Mill Bridge will stay where it is and remain in service as a "fully functional, historic bridge." The bridge will receive $1.875 million for rehabilitation from the 2005 federal highway bill - Joe Nelson] Return to Top |
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By Joe Nelson July 30, 2005 - Ken Connolly, Staff Director, U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee contacted the VCBS to inform us that Senator Jeffords secured $46 million for covered bridges, $6 million for Vermont specifically, part of the federal highway bill for 2005. "This is a mandatory, highway trust fund," Connally said, "The money is not subject to appropriation." Of the amounts appropriated in section 1934 for the State of Vermont for the rehabilitation of historic covered bridges, Congress intends that the State shall allocate $450,000 for the Creamery/West Hill Covered Bridge in Montgomery; $450,000 for the Bowers Covered Bridge in West Windsor; $500,000 for the Quinlan Covered Bridge in Charlotte; $500,000 for the Gifford Covered Bridge in Randolph; $500,000 for the Worrall Covered Bridge in Rockingham; $450,000 for the Kingsbury Covered Bridge in Randolph; $1,500,000 for the Taftsville Covered Bridge in Woodstock; and $1,800,000 on the Pulp Mill Covered Bridge in Middlebury-Weybridge. Return to Top |
In reference to the paragraph in the Spring Meeting article on page 3 of the Summer 2005 "Bridger" the name of the project is Covered Spans of Yesteryear, not Covered Bridges of Yesteryear. Also, the preferred web address is www.lostbridges.org as a non-profit organization. The lostbridges.com site exists only to redirect viewers to the .org site. Also, the line - "Much of their material comes from the NSPCB archives . . . , should have read "Much of their material comes from participating covered bridge historians among the covered bridge societies." Writes Bill Caswell of Covered Spans of Yesteryear: "The overwhelming majority of our pictures have come from Dick Roy's and Richard Donovan's personal collections. Also, some people have the impression that this project is sponsored by or otherwise supported by the National Society. That isn't the case. All of our expenses are covered by Trish [Kane] and I." - Editor Return to Top |
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by Elizabeth K. Fuller submitted by Mary Fearon
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 I recently attended an FFA leadership conference in Washington D.C.. While we were there, we were challenged to come up with a plan to somehow better our communities, and I came up with a plan to clean the graffiti off the covered bridges since we have the Covered Bridge Festival and many tourists throughout the year. However, I wasn't sure how to go about doing that. I found your website, which said your organization works to remove the graffiti. How do you do that? I thought about painting over it, but wasn't sure about that because I would like to keep the natural wood as much as possible. I also thought about scraping and washing it off, but was unsure as to how realistic that is. I'm open to any suggestions. This is something I'd like to get off the ground, and you are my first contact. I believe the highway department will need to be contacted, also, but I wanted to figure out a method before proceeding that far. Elise July 11, 2005 - This topic is of considerable interest to VAOT as well, so I asked our chemist to research it. The response follows: John Weaver, VAOT From the City of Burlington, Vermont: |
 In less than 30 days, summer will be over and autumn will be upon us. What a fabulous time of year to photograph our covered bridges. The fall foliage enhances our bridges in such a spectacular way. The Vermont Covered Bridge Society received seven new memberships this quarter. Please join me in welcoming them. Alfred Mangus, Sacramento, CA; Carolyn Clapper, West Charleston, VT; Steve Wheaton, Long Beach, CA; Thomas and Lisette Keating, North Tonawanda, NY, Mary Mauer, Ocean Grove, NJ; John Esau, Windsor, VT and Susan Cole, Manchester, VT. Although it is only September, I know some of our members like to shop "early" for the holidays. A gift certificate for a membership to the Vermont Covered Bridge Society makes a lovely gift. And don't forget, there are some wonderful covered bridge books available through many of the covered bridge societies as well. Gift certificates to covered bridge societies and covered bridge books make especially nice gifts for someone who isn't able to travel to see our beautiful bridges. Early Renewal Contest – 2006 For all of you who have asked, Yes, we will indeed once again run our Early Renewal Contest. This contest has been a huge success and helps the Society so much! Paying your membership fees before the December 31 deadline not only qualifies you for a chance at a nice gift, it saves the society additional postage expense having to send reminders that your dues are due. Here are the prizes for this year's contest: One year free membership to the VCBS; a lovely covered bridge welcome sign or a gift bag filled with covered bridge items. To be eligible for this year’s contest, here’s what you need to do: 1) *Pay your membership dues before December 31, 2005. That’s the key! (Please note that if your membership has been paid in advance of this date, or if you are a life member, your name will automatically be entered into the drawing.) 2) Complete the membership form in this issue of the newsletter and return it with your check made payable to the VCBS no later than December 31st. The mailing address is: VCBS, PO Box 97, Jeffersonville, VT 05464-0097. Your name will then be put in the drawing for one of three lovely prizes mentioned above. Keep in mind that only memberships paid by December 31st are eligible for this contest. Don’t wait until you get so busy with the holidays that you forget to send in your membership fee as you will miss out on some nice gifts if you do. Do it today while you are thinking about it. Winners will be announced in the winter issue of our newsletter. *You might also like to consider changing your membership to one of the other categories or joining one of our Giving Societies mentioned on the form. Your support is so important to our preservation work and what a nice gift to the VCBS too. Happy autumn everyone!, Trish Kane Membership Coordinator Upcoming Birthdays and Anniversaries: |
 Dear Members: I had a discussion with Mr. Gilbertson, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer at the meeting held July 15 in Middlebury concerning the fate of the Pulp Mill Bridge. In the course of the conversation I told him of the VCBS commitment to promoting the preservation of Vermont's covered bridges. I quoted to him the contents of our brochure citing the Adopt-a-bridge pledge. Mr. Gilbertson responds: August 02, 2005 Subject: Shoreham Covered Bridge. We had a quick discussion about the Shoreham bridge in Middlebury at the Pulp Mill Bridge meeting. AOT is now responsible for cutting the brush around the bridge but I will continue to pursue your offer of the Covered Bridge Society doing some cutting. The reason I write at this time is to request a letter of support from you for work on the Shoreham Bridge. The Agency of Transportation and the Division are applying for a Transportation Enhancement Grant to replace the roof and do some work on the upper chords of the Shoreham Bridge based on Jan Lewandoski's recommendations. We would repair the trusses in kind and replace the deteriorated wood shingle roof that was put on about 20 years ago with green standing seam metal. The leaks in the roof have caused the problems with the truss. The cedar shingles of today are not what they were 100 years ago and a water-tight fit is of course essential. It would help our application if the Vermont Covered Bridge Society could supply a letter of support. If you can, please send it to my address. The application is due on August 15 and it would be helpful to have the letter by then. Thank you, Eric Gilbertson I responded with the following letter on VCBS letterhead: August 6, 2005 Dear Mr. Gilbertson: We of the Vermont Covered Bridge Society were pleased to hear that the Vermont Agency of Transportation and the Division for Historic Preservation are applying for a grant to support much needed repairs to the Rutland Rail Road Covered Bridge in Shoreham. The Shoreham bridge needs to be preserved for its historical significance. It is not only the last of its type in the State of Vermont, it is also a monument to 19th century structural engineering, and a classic example of Howe's truss supporting the needs of the then growing railroad industry. The mission of the Vermont Covered Bridge Society is to encourage the preservation of covered bridges by working with the towns or other entities owning or overseeing covered bridges, and cooperating with the public and with other organizations committed to the preservation of historic bridges. The VCBS promotes an adopt-a-bridge program in which members adopt a bridge and work with the owners clearing brush, picking up trash, sweeping, painting, keeping watch against vandalism, and notifying authorities when the bridge needs attention. If we can be of service to you, please let us know. Yours in bridging, Joseph C. Nelson, President, VCBS John Weaver, Terry Shaw, and I have been discussing this potential project. The responses from the Board of Directors have been positive. John is behind the effort, and Terry and I have volunteered to go to the site to be part of a brush cutting party. All are welcome to join us in this opportunity to fulfill the stated purpose of the VCBS: "To preserve Vermont's covered bridges; To provide fellowship for Bridgers." No dates have been set as yet. Volunteers please contact me. Our Thanks to Kathie Knight. Kathie has been serving the Communications Committee as Mail Person Extraordinary, handling the distribution of the Bridger newsletter. She has also been part of the Membership Committee, filling out and mailing membership cards and packages. Now, due to her slow recovery from carpel tunnel surgery, she is retiring. Get well, Kathie, and thanks again. Another unsung hero; Ron Bechard. Life Member Ron has been monitoring our post office box in Jeffersonville, receiving and distributing the incoming mail to its various destinations. Thank you Ron, you have our vote of thanks. I am yours in Bridging Joe Nelson, President, VCBS Return to Top |
Joe Nelson, P.O Box 267, Jericho, VT 05465-0267This file was coded by Steve Miyamoto
This file posted September 24, 2005