The Smolen–Gulf Bridge is a
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 ...
which carries State Road (Ashtabula County Road 25) across the
Ashtabula River
The Ashtabula River is a river located northeast of Cleveland in Ohio. The river flows into Lake Erie at the city of Ashtabula, Ohio. It is in length and drains .
Name
''Ashtabula'' derives from Lenape language ''ashte-pihële'', 'always enough ...
at the
Plymouth and
Ashtabula Township line in northern
Ashtabula County,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. At 613
feet
The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...
(182.9
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...
s), it is the longest covered bridge in the United States – a title formerly held by the
Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
– and the fourth longest covered bridge in the world.
["] The bridge, one of 17 drivable covered bridges in the county, was designed by John Smolen, former Ashtabula County Engineer when the idea of bridging the Ashtabula River Gulf with a wooden structure was first conceived in 1995.
[Nation's longest covered bridge to be dedicated]
", ''Star Beacon
The ''Star Beacon'' is a seven-day morning daily newspaper published in Ashtabula, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings
CNHI, LLC (formerly Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.) is an American publisher of newspapers ...
'', posted August 20, 2008
History
The county's 17th publicly accessible covered bridge cost approximately $7.78 million to build,
[Commissioners OK higher bridge costs]
, ''Star Beacon
The ''Star Beacon'' is a seven-day morning daily newspaper published in Ashtabula, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings
CNHI, LLC (formerly Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.) is an American publisher of newspapers ...
'', published September 02, 2006 and features walkways along both sides. It is constructed of four sections
[Getting Ready for Dedication"]
, ''Star Beacon
The ''Star Beacon'' is a seven-day morning daily newspaper published in Ashtabula, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings
CNHI, LLC (formerly Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.) is an American publisher of newspapers ...
'', posted July 15, 2008 that rest on concrete abutments and three concrete piers, and rises more than over the river, carrying two lanes of legal-weight traffic.
[Under way, but a long ways to go]
, ''Star Beacon
The ''Star Beacon'' is a seven-day morning daily newspaper published in Ashtabula, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings
CNHI, LLC (formerly Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.) is an American publisher of newspapers ...
'', published October 10, 2007 The bridge consists of pieces of
Douglas fir or
yellow pine
In ecology and forestry, yellow pine refers to a number of conifer species that tend to grow in similar plant communities and yield similar strong wood. In the Western United States, yellow pine refers to Jeffrey pine or ponderosa pine. In the ...
, with
hemlock or
yellow poplar
''Liriodendron tulipifera''—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus ''Liriodendron'' (the other ...
being used for the siding.
The builder was Union Industrial Contractors and Koski Construction.
The bridge is located east-southeast of
Ashtabula, at the same location as the previous bridge which carried State Road across the Ashtabula River. The old bridge, a steel bridge built in 1949 (National Bridge Inventory number 0430714), replaced the Crooked Gulf covered bridge (number 35-04-01) built in 1867.
[
The bridge was dedicated the afternoon August 26, 2008, where the name was unveiled.]Conneaut Creek
Conneaut Creek is a tributary of Lake Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio in the United States. Via Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, it is part of the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, which flows to the Atl ...
in Monroe Township, which is the reason for the name chosen for this bridge.)
Gallery
See also
* List of covered bridges in Ashtabula County, Ohio
** West Liberty Covered Bridge in nearby Geneva, shortest drivable covered bridge in the United States
References
External links
Scans of opening day brochure
*
* Includes documentary information.
*
. Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smolen-Gulf Bridge
Covered bridges in Ashtabula County, Ohio
Bridges completed in 2008
Road bridges in Ohio
Wooden bridges in Ohio
Pratt truss bridges in the United States