Brown Bridge Closed For repairs
[WGN 45-11-09]
June 2, 2002- Hi Joe, I was driving near Shrewsbury yesterday and noticed the road
to the Brown bridge was closed. I walked down to the bridge and found out it was closed for
repairs. About 40% of the siding on the south side of the bridge and a small amount of siding on
the north has been removed. Four pieces of the Town lattice truss have been replaced on the
South side. The removed truss was rotten from water damage and insect infestation.
Today, June 2, I went back and talked to the one of
the workers there. The bridge has been closed for about a month and repairs will be finished in
about one or two weeks. The company doing the work is the Wright Construction Company out
of Mount Holly, Vermont. They have worked on over 18 different covered bridge projects and
were involved with the rebuilding of the Slate Bridge in New Hampshire.
For repairs, they will be removing and replacing all
the old siding. Plus the workers have replaced two pieces of cord and eight pieces of lattice. The
person I talked to said they would not be replacing any more lattice or cord. As of today, about
70% of the siding has been removed and the rest will probably be off by the end of the day.
Robert
Cassidy, VCBS Bridge-watch, Rutland.
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| Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 2,
2002 |
Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 2, 2002 |
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| Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 2,
2002 |
Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 2, 2002 |
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| Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 2,
2002 |
Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 2, 2002 |
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Work on Brown Bridge Progressing Well
June 10, 2002 - I went to the Shrewsbury Town Clerk's office today and picked up a
copy of the Brown Bridge inspection report. While I was there, I talked to the Town Clerk and
she told me the workers had found some more problems with the bridge and would it be closed
for another three weeks. I then went back down to the bridge to see what the workers would tell
me.
The work on the bridge has progressed real well. All
of the South side of the bridge has been completely re-sided and the north side is over half
complete. I talked to one of the workers at the bridge and he said the bridge should be open by
Wednesday. Their part of the project on the bridge is almost finished. He told me the North side
of the bridge would be completely re-sided by the end of the day. The only thing left is they have
to replace the principal rafter at the entrance of the East portal.
Over the years the rafter had received water damage
and one of the ends was removed, leaving a gap between the cord and the remaining section of
the rafter. A metal rod was put in to fill in the gap between the cord and the rafter. Because of
that makeshift repair the whole rafter has to be removed and replaced. Other then that the Bridge
is just about ready to be reopened!
Robert
Cassidy, VCBS Bridge-watch, Rutland.
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| Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 10,
2002 |
Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 10,
2002 |
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| Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 10,
2002 |
Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 10,
2002 |
Brown Bridge Work Completed, Open to Traffic.
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| | Photo by Robert Cassidy, June 13,
2002 |
June 13, 2002 - The work on the Brown Bridge is finished. The Wright Construction
Company finished their work on the bridge and it was reopened for traffic on Wednesday, June
12.
The Bridge looks real nice now with it's new siding.
Also, when you walk inside the bridge you can smell the nice fresh scent of cut wood. Hopefully
with the newly completed repairs, the Brown Bridge will be around for many more years to come!
I have attached a picture of the newly resided north side of the bridge to this e-mail.
Bob
Cassidy [VCBS Bridge-watch]
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