Covered bridge - a structure for the passage with walls and roof. Bridges are often made of wood, most of the surviving covered bridges date back to the 19th century. Most of the remaining covered bridges, especially in the United States , are considered attractions, and are protected as historical and cultural monuments.
Content
Construction Technology
Covered bridges, as a rule, were built of wood, in forest areas where wood was cheap. The quality of the wood suffered from precipitation, and the bridge parts needed to be replaced frequently. The service life of conventional wooden bridges rarely exceeded 80 years. Since the wooden joists of the floor were the most expensive, covered bridges appeared in which the roof and walls protect the floor from rain, so the floor wood has to be changed less often than cheap wall boards and roofs.
Modern covered bridges are often built from metal or concrete, but the walls and roof no longer serve as protection for the bridge structure, but serve purely decorative purposes.
Covered bridges in North America
In the United States and Canada, there were a large number of covered bridges, but most of them died from fires or were demolished to be replaced with more modern structures. At present, several hundred covered bridges have been preserved in the USA. Among the US states, the largest number of them are in Pennsylvania (more than 200), Vermont (125) and Ohio (106). In a large number of cases, bridges are preserved as historical and architectural monuments and are not used for passage: street traffic destroys bridges, moreover, most bridges support only single-lane traffic.
As of 2009, the longest covered bridge in the United States is the Smolen-Gulf bridge built in 2006 in Ohio (183 meters). It is followed by the historic Cornish Windsor Covered Bridge in Vermont, 137 meters.
Covered bridges in culture
In the film Bridges of Madison County (1995), the plot is based on the fact that the photographer arrives in Iowa to photograph the covered bridges of Madison County. The film shows only two bridges, but there are six covered bridges in the area.
Literature
- Pierce, Phillip C .; Brungraber, Robert L .; Lichtenstein, Abba; Sabol, Scott; Morrell, JJ; Lebow, ST Covered Bridge Manual: Publication No. FHWA-HRT-04-098 Neopr . United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (April 2005). The appeal date is January 10, 2010. Archived April 14, 2012.
- List of covered bridges in North America
- "10 great places to cross that covered bridge." USA Today. September 9, 2004.
- Covered Bridges Recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)