27-722: The Bell Ford Post Patented Diagonal "Combination Bridge" , often simply called the Bell Ford Bridge or Bell Ford Covered Bridge , is a dilapidated covered bridge located in Jackson County, Indiana , northwest of Seymour, Indiana . The bridge originally passed over the East Fork of the White River on a former alignment of State Road 258 , and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 25, 2005. The bridge
54-490: A local artillery association and a tourist gift shop. The bridge itself was originally built c. 1365 as part of Lucerne's fortifications. It linked the old town on the right bank of the Reuss to the new town on the left bank, securing the town from attack from the south (i.e. from the lake). The bridge was initially over 270 metres (890 ft) long, although numerous shortenings over the years and river bank replenishments mean
81-684: A mile in length, but was destroyed by ice and flooding in 1832. The longest, historical covered bridges remaining in the United States are the Cornish–Windsor Bridge , spanning the Connecticut River between New Hampshire and Vermont, and Medora Bridge , spanning the East Fork of the White River in Indiana. Both lay some claim to the superlative depending upon how the length is measured. In
108-461: Is expected to take two years and cost $ 2 million ( USD ), with a hope that federal grants will be available. It has been promised that historical markers will denote its history in Jackson County, but some preservationists in Jackson County decry it being moved, saying the grant money was already there to pay for its renovation in Jackson County. One thing that might stop the bridge from being moved
135-492: Is if Jackson County would have to repay $ 123,000 of federal money for design and restoration work it received to use on the bridge since 1999. In late May 2010 an Indiana Department of Transportation representative requested of Jackson County commissioners that a decision be made in the coming month. Covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber- truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of
162-615: Is nothing left of the Bell Ford Bridge and I will not spend another tax dollar on it. Ninety percent of the people in this county think it is asinine to even consider rebuilding that bridge. On July 25, 2007, United States Representative Baron Hill announced that the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program would be giving the Bell Ford Bridge and two other covered bridges in Jackson County $ 2.08 million total for restoration. $ 448,000 of
189-490: The 17th century and executed by local Catholic painter Hans Heinrich Wägmann , depict events from Lucerne's history. Of the original 158 paintings, 147 existed before the 1993 fire. After the fire, the remains of 47 paintings were collected, but ultimately only 30 were fully restored. The wooden boards that held the paintings varied from 150 centimetres (59 in) to 181 centimetres (71 in) wide and 85 centimetres (33 in) to 95 centimetres (37 in) wide. Most of
216-651: The 1820s. Extant bridges from that decade include New York 's Hyde Hall Bridge and Pennsylvania 's Hassenplug Bridge , both built in 1825, and the Haverhill–Bath Covered Bridge and the Roberts Covered Bridge , in New Hampshire and Ohio respectively, both built in 1829. The longest covered bridge ever built was constructed in 1814 in Lancaster County , Pennsylvania, and spanned over
243-638: The 1950s, peaking at about 400 covered bridges. These mostly used the Howe, Town, and Burr trusses. Today, there are 58 covered bridges in New Brunswick , including the world's longest, the Hartland Bridge . Ontario has just one remaining covered bridge, the West Montrose Covered Bridge . Roofed, rather than covered bridges, have existed for centuries in southern Europe and Asia. In these cases,
270-476: The Kapellbrücke was reconstructed and again opened to the public on 14 April 1994 for a total of CHF 3.4 million. Lucerne is unique in that its three wooden pedestrian bridges, the 14th-century Hofbrücke (now destroyed) and Kapellbrücke and the 16th-century Spreuerbrücke , all featured painted interior triangular frames. None of Europe's other wooden footbridges have this feature. The paintings, dating back to
297-518: The U.S., although it states that only 670 of those were standing when the 1959 edition was published. The tallest (35 feet high), built in 1892, is the Felton Covered Bridge , just north of Santa Cruz, California . Between 1969 and 2015, the number of surviving covered bridges in Canada declined from about 400 to under 200. In 1900, Quebec had an estimated 1,000 covered bridges. Relative to
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#1732852745640324-422: The bridge complex is the octagonal 34.5 m (113 ft) tall (from ground) "Wasserturm", which translates to "water tower," in the sense of "tower standing in the water." The tower pre-dated the bridge by about 30 years. Over the centuries, the tower has been used as a prison, torture chamber, and later a municipal archive as well as a local treasury. Today, the tower is closed to the public, although it houses
351-399: The bridge now totals only 204.7 metres (672 ft) long. It is the oldest surviving truss bridge in the world, consisting of strutted and triangulated trusses of moderate span, supported on piled trestles; as such, it is probably an evolution of the strutted bridge. The Kapellbrücke almost burned down on 18 August 1993, destroying two thirds of its interior paintings. Shortly thereafter,
378-456: The cover is to protect the users of the bridge rather than the structure. Examples include: In addition to being practical, covered bridges were popular venues for a variety of social activities and are an enduring cultural icon; for example: Kapellbr%C3%BCcke The Kapellbrücke (literally, Chapel Bridge) is a covered wooden footbridge spanning the river Reuss diagonally in the city of Lucerne in central Switzerland . Named after
405-592: The covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges typically have a lifespan of only 20 years because of the effects of rain and sun, but a covered bridge can last over 100 years. In the United States, only about 1 in 10 survived the 20th century. The relatively small number of surviving bridges is due to deliberate replacement, neglect, and the high cost of restoration. Surviving covered bridges often attract touristic attention due to their rarity, quaint appearance, and bucolic settings. Many are considered historic and have been
432-521: The grant was for the Bell Ford Bridge. On August 19, 2008, the commissioners of Jackson County voted 3–0 to sell what remained of the bridge to an interest group who intended to rebuild the bridge at Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park in Indianapolis, Indiana , over sixty miles (97 km) away from its current location. It would allow walkers and bikers to cross over Fall Creek. The restoration
459-525: The mid-19th century, the use of cheaper wrought iron and cast iron led to metal rather than timber trusses. Metal structures did not need protection from the elements, so they no longer needed to be covered. The bridges also became obsolete because most were single-lane, had low width and height clearances, and could not support the heavy loads of modern traffic. As of 2004 , there were about 750 left, mostly in eastern and northern states. The 2021 World Guide to Covered Bridges lists 840 covered bridges in
486-499: The most popular designs was the Burr Truss , patented in 1817, which used an arch to bear the load, while the trusses kept the bridge rigid. Other designs included the King , Queen , Lattice , and Howe trusses . Early trusses were designed with only a rough understanding of the engineering dynamics at work. In 1847, American engineer Squire Whipple published the first correct analysis of
513-528: The nearby St. Peter's Chapel, the bridge is unique in containing a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century, although many of them were destroyed along with a larger part of the centuries-old bridge in a 1993 fire. Subsequently restored, the Kapellbrücke is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, as well as the world's oldest surviving truss bridge . It serves as the city's symbol and as one of Switzerland's main tourist attractions . Part of
540-518: The panels were made from spruce wood boards, and only a few were made from linden wood and maple . The paintings were created during the Counter-Reformation , featuring scenes promoting the Catholic Church . The paintings were sponsored by the city's council members, who, upon sponsoring a panel, were allowed to attribute their personal coat of arms on it. An explanation of each painting
567-611: The precise ways that a load is carried through the components of a truss, which enabled him to design stronger bridges with fewer materials. About 14,000 covered bridges have been built in the United States, mostly in the years 1825 to 1875. The first documented was the Permanent Bridge , completed in 1805 to span the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia . However, most other early examples of covered bridges do not appear until
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#1732852745640594-567: The rest of North America, Quebec was late in building covered bridges, with the busiest decade for construction being the 1930s. Initially, the designs were varied, but around 1905, the design was standardised to the Town québécois , a variant on the lattice truss patented by Ithiel Town in 1820. The designer is unknown. About 500 of these were built in the first half of the 20th century. They were often built by local settlers using local materials, according to standard plans. The last agricultural colony
621-595: The subject of historic preservation campaigns. Typically, covered bridges are structures with longitudinal timber-trusses which form the bridge's backbone. Some were built as railway bridges, using very heavy timbers and doubled up lattice work. In Canada and the U.S., numerous timber covered bridges were built in the late 1700s to the late 1800s, reminiscent of earlier designs in Germany and Switzerland . They tend to be in isolated places, making them vulnerable to vandalism and arson. The oldest surviving truss bridge in
648-620: The world is the Kapellbrücke in Switzerland, first built in the 1300s. Modern-style timber truss bridges were pioneered in Switzerland in the mid-1700s. Germany has 70 surviving historic wooden covered bridges. Most bridges were built to cross streams, and the majority had just a single span . Virtually all contained a single lane. A few two-lane bridges were built, having a third, central truss. Many different truss designs were used. One of
675-684: Was founded in 1948, and the last bridge was built by the Ministry of Colonisation in 1958 in Lebel-sur-Quévillon . There are now 82 covered bridges in Quebec, Transports Québec including the Félix-Gabriel-Marchand Bridge , the province's longest covered bridge. In Quebec covered bridges were sometimes known as pont rouges (red bridges) because of their typical colour. Like Quebec, New Brunswick continued to build covered bridges into
702-515: Was originally built in 1869. Built in two sections, the wood and iron bridge measured 325 feet long. It reflects a time when the construction of bridges began switching from wood to iron / steel, every tensile web in the trusses made of iron, every compression member made from wood. The now unusual use of both materials has made it said that the Bell Ford Bridge is "the best representation of the American engineering “combination” bridge form". Until 1970 it
729-525: Was regularly used by both cars and animals. The western span collapsed in February 1999 during a windstorm, and the eastern span collapsed on January 2, 2006, nine months after it made the National Register. Its collapse meant that no combination variant Post Truss remained standing worldwide. After the Bell Ford Bridge's January 2006 collapse, Jackson County Commission President Gary Darlage said: "There
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