Historic bridge set for repairs
Toolbox
By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER - Published: February 17, 2009
BARTONSVILLE – The Lower Bartonsville Covered Bridge will be closed for much of next week for repairs to roof supports that were damaged by an unknown truck.
The 1870 bridge, which spans the Williams River, will be closed from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 24, Feb. 25 and Feb. 26 to allow members of the Rockingham highway crew to make temporary repairs, according to Rockingham Select Board members.
The damage was caused sometime after Christmas by a large box truck that was so tall its top broke some of the trusses holding up the roof, according to Rockingham Select Board member Ann DiBernardo, who lives in Lower Bartonsville.
"No one has come forward to say they did it," said DiBernardo.
That bridge and the neighboring Worrall Covered Bridge were built by Sanford Granger. The Worrall Bridge, which is also across the Williams River, is slightly older, built in 1868. It is 87 feet long.
The Bartonsville bridge is 151 feet long, and is of lattice truss construction. Both are on the National Register of Historic Places. There are two other covered bridges in Rockingham.
DiBernardo said the bridge has been off limits to heavy, wide and tall trucks since the damage, and she said the town wanted to do the repairs before mud season, since traffic would have to be detoured onto back roads.
"We thought it was a FedEx truck, but Everett called them up and they denied it," said DiBernardo, referring to Everett Hammond, the town's engineer who grew up in Bartonsville.
DiBernardo said that village members including herself and members of Hammond's family are very protective of the bridge, reporting any problems with the bridge to the town.
DiBernardo's husband, Dr. Vincent DiBernardo, runs the Rockingham Veterinary Clinic and, she said, the bridge closure will affect their clients.
"But it's something that's got to be done, before mud season," she said, adding that the roads were already starting to soften up in the past week.
DiBernardo said Hammond told her he believes a truck skidded off the raised traffic pads on the one-way bridge and struck the roof supports.
Thomas MacPhee, chairman of the Rockingham Select Board, said Hammond believed the damage wasn't so serious that the repairs couldn't be done by the town highway crew.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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