Jay Bridge is a wooden
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 the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...
that spans the east branch of the
Ausable River in
Jay
A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...
,
Essex County, New York
Essex County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,381. Its county seat is the hamlet of Elizabethtown. Its name is from the English county of Essex. Essex is one of only 2 counties that are e ...
, USA. It is eligible to be listed in the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. Of the 29
covered bridges in New York State, it and the Copeland Bridge in the town of Edinburg, Saratoga County are the only two situated in the
Adirondacks
The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...
.
History
The first bridge in this location was destroyed by flooding in 1856. The bridge was rebuilt in 1857 using a
Howe truss
A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...
design.
In 1953, a heavy truck fell through the floor of the bridge; repair required the replacement of of the damaged end of the bridge. In 1997, traffic was rerouted to a new steel bridge just downstream. The original has since been restored for pedestrians and bicycles.
See also
*
External links
The Rebirth of a Covered Bridge (Jay Bridge)*
Covered bridges in New York (state)
Bridges completed in 1857
Wooden bridges in New York (state)
Bridges in Essex County, New York
Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state)
Tourist attractions in Essex County, New York
Road bridges in New York (state)
Howe truss bridges in the United States
1857 establishments in New York (state)
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