The Waterford Covered Bridge is a

Town lattice truss A lattice bridge is a form of truss bridge that uses many small, closely spaced diagonal elements forming a lattice. The lattice Truss Bridge was patented in 1820 by architect Ithiel Town. Originally a design to allow a substantial bridge to be ma ...

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 ...

spanning LeBoeuf Creek in Waterford Township, Erie County in the U.S. state of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The bridge was built in 1875, and is in length. The Waterford Covered Bridge is one of two remaining covered bridges in Erie County, along with the Harrington Covered Bridge. The bridge is also the only Town lattice truss bridge in the county and one of only 19 in Pennsylvania. It was documented by the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

in 1936 and 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 ...

in 1980. In 2011, the bridge was closed due to its deteriorating condition.

Design

The Waterford Covered Bridge is situated southeast of the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

in Waterford Township. The bridge spans the over LeBoeuf Creek, and has an overall length of . It is wide and carries a single lane of Niemeyer Road (Township Road 463). The road deck itself is wide, and is made up of "transverse decking" and a pair of , linear runners to reduce the noise from loose boards and to guide automobiles. The bridge only has clearance of , which has played a role in repeated collisions by oversized vehicles. The bridge was designed by Richard Cross using a Town lattice truss. The truss consists of a lattice of beams crossing at 45 to 60-degree angles and connected by wooden pins. There are only nineteen bridges remaining in Pennsylvania using the Town lattice, and the Waterford Covered Bridge is only one in Erie County. It is the also the only covered bridge in the county to have been painted, with the exterior of the bridge painted barn red. The bridge also has "an unusual, blue, metal pipe structure" attached to the abutments on the bridge's south side. The structure is supported with a

king post A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above f ...

framework and, presumably, connects to nearby pipelines. Originally, a white sign was mounted above each portal that declared "Old Kissing Bridge built in 1875 by the Phelps Bros." Sometime in the mid-2000s, the sign was taken down. When the bridge was closed, large "Bridge Closed" signs were mounted in the same location with concrete barricades placed across the road on the bridge's approaches.

History

The first covered bridge in the United States was built in 1805 over the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania. By the end of the 19th century, over 1,500 covered bridges were constructed across the state. In 1820,

Ithiel Town Ithiel Town (October 3, 1784 – June 13, 1844) was an American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the f ...

patented his namesake lattice truss. The truss became particularly popular as it used smaller piece of lumber instead of the larger, heavier timbers that were more expensive to fabricate, and could easily be built by relatively unskilled builders. It was also strong enough that it became appropriated for using in wooden and iron railroad bridges. The Waterford Covered Bridge was built in 1875 by the brothers Charles and James Phelps. An eyewitness to the construction recounted in 1936 that it took approximately two months to complete. In 2001, Waterford Township was given a $54,000 grant by the

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania responsible for the collection, conservation and interpretation of Pennsylvania's historic heritage. The commission cares fo ...

(PHMC) to replace the rafters, roofing, and shake shingles on the bridge.

Modern use and status

, they are only two covered bridges in Erie County— the Waterford Covered Bridge and the Harrington Covered Bridge; both the Carmen Covered Bridge and Gudgeonville Covered Bridge were lost to arsons in 1996 and 2008, respectively. The bridge has been damaged by oversized trucks attempting to cross it with the first incident occurring on June 17, 2003 involving a

box truck A box truck—also known as a box van, cube van, bob truck or cube truck—is a chassis cab truck with an enclosed cuboid-shaped cargo area. On most box trucks, the cabin is separate to the cargo area; however some box trucks have a door between ...

. Another incident on December 9, 2005 involved a FedEx truck that was taller than the bridge's posted clearance and over the posted load limit, at the time, of . Several of the bridge's deck planks, support beams, and cross pieces were damaged, although the bridge's integrity was not compromised and was never closed to traffic. It has also been subjected to repeated vandalism with graffiti marking bridge surfaces. At one point, a deer carcass was even found hanging from the bridge's rafters. After an assessment by state and federal highway officials in 2014, the Waterford Covered Bridge was found to need a substantial refurbishment before it could be safely reopened. Structural boards were found to be missing or loose, and the entire substructure needing to be replaced. PennDOT also proposed an overhead bar ahead of the bridge to prevent oversize trucks from reaching it, as well as lighting and security cameras to deter vandals.

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