The West Hartford Bridge is a steel deck girder bridge carrying Town Highway 14 (the Quechee-West Hartford Road) across the
White River in the village of
West Hartford, Vermont
West Hartford is an unincorporated community village in the town of Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont. It is the most rural of Hartford's five villages, situated on the White River and crossed by the Appalachian Trail. Almost half of the village ...
. It was built by the town with state assistance in 2006, replacing a Parker through truss bridge built by the state after Vermont's devastating 1927 floods. The 1929 bridge was listed on 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 v ...
in 1992.
Setting
The West Hartford Bridge is located near the southern end of the linear village of West Hartford, stretched out along
Vermont Route 14
Vermont Route 14 (VT 14) is a north–south state highway in northeastern Vermont, United States. It extends from U.S. Route 4 (US 4) and US 5 in White River Junction to VT 100 in Newport. Between White River Junction an ...
several miles upriver (north) from
White River Junction
White River Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Hartford in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,528 at the 2020 census, up from 2,286 in 2010, making it the largest co ...
, Hartford's economic hub. The bridge provides a connection between West Hartford and the village of
Quechee to the south, and historically provided access to other parts of West Hartford village which were washed away
in the 1927 floods. The bridge crosses the river in an east-west orientation.
Historic bridges
The 1929 bridge was a Parker through truss structure, built out of rolled steel I-beams riveted together. It was virtually identical to
the bridge in
Sharon
Sharon ( he, שָׁרוֹן ''Šārôn'' "plain") is a given name as well as an Israeli surname.
In English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name. However, historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In I ...
, several miles upriver, which was built about the same time. It was long and wide, with poured concrete abutments.
[ with ] The 1927 floods, the worst in the state's history, washed away all of the bridges along the White River downstream from
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
, in the foothills of the
Green Mountains
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada. The part of the same range that is in ...
. This bridge and that in Sharon were part of a massive building program orchestrated with federal, state, and local funds, that saw the construction of about 1,600 bridges in the space of a few years.
See also
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References
{{NRHP in Windsor County, Vermont
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Windsor County, Vermont
Bridges completed in 1929
Bridges completed in 2006
Bridges in Windsor County, Vermont
Buildings and structures in Hartford, Vermont
Steel bridges in the United States
Girder bridges in the United States
Parker truss bridges in the United States