The Lyme–East Thetford Bridge is a historic bridge over the Connecticut River between

Lyme, New Hampshire Lyme is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,745 as of the 2020 census. Lyme is home to the Chaffee Natural Conservation Area. The Dartmouth Skiway is in the eastern part of to ...

, and

East Thetford, Vermont Thetford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States in the Connecticut River Valley. The population was 2,775 at the 2020 census. Villages within the town include East Thetford, North Thetford, Thetford Hill, Thetford Center, Rices Mil ...

. From the New Hampshire side it carries East Thetford Road, which becomes

Vermont Route 113 Vermont Route 113 (VT 113) is a east–west state highway in eastern Vermont in the United States. It runs south and east from an intersection with VT 110 in Chelsea to the New Hampshire border in Thetford. VT 113 crosses the ...

as it enters Vermont. A

Parker truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

bridge completed in 1937, it is long. The bridge was added to 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 ...

in 2020.

Description and history

The Lyme–East Thetford Bridge is located in a rural setting between the village of East Thetford on the Vermont side and Lyme village to the east in New Hampshire. It consists of two Parker truss spans, set on concrete abutments and a central concrete pier. The trusses are fabricated out of rolled steel I-beams, and the main deck is steel covered by asphalt. The bridge location was the site of a ferry as early as 1780. A bridge is documented at this site in the 1840s, and a bridge built in the 1890s was destroyed by flooding in 1936. The present bridge was constructed as a replacement for the latter bridge, its abutments and piers built higher as a defense against future flooding. The bridge trusses were fabricated by the

American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pitt ...

, and it was largely funded by the federal government through the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. The bridge is fairly typical of truss bridges built in Vermont at the time, and is the longest two-span Parker truss in the state of New Hampshire. It is one of five Parker truss bridges spanning the Connecticut River.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyme-East Thetford Bridge Bridges completed in 1937 Bridges over the Connecticut River Bridges in Grafton County, New Hampshire Bridges in Orange County, Vermont National Register of Historic Places in Grafton County, New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, Vermont Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont Parker truss bridges in the United States Lyme, New Hampshire

Description and history

See also

References