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The
Covered Bridges
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(m4bridge-covered-vt-taftsville-2015-0521.0941) The Taftsville Bridge from Above Dam
Covered wooden bridges have long captivated the American imagination. More than quaint relics of horse-and-buggy days, these remarkable achievements in civil engineering helped forge the physical and economic growth of the United States for over a century. By the 1870s, more than 10,000 covered bridges spanned the American landscape.
Structure:
A covered bridge is usually a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges, create an almost complete enclosure. The primary purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather but enclosing the bridge also helps to ensure no traffic closures from heavy snow and or a frozen deck.
Uncovered wooden bridges typically have a lifespan of only 20 years because of the effects of rain and sun, but a covered bridge could last 100 years or more.
Building Covered Bridges
About 1,500 covered bridges were built from 1820 and 1900, and most were built from 1825 and 1875. The longest ever built was over the Susquehanna River at 5,960 feet (1,820 m). Built in 1814, it was washed away in the freshets of 1832.
In total, more than 12,000 covered bridges have been built in the United States, about 4,000 of which are in Ohio.
Covered bridges became obsolete because most were single-lane, had low width and height clearances, and could not support the heavy loads of modern traffic, especially commercial truck traffic.
Covered Bridges Today
About 1600 covered bridges remain in existence world wide with less than 1000 in the United States and less than 200 in Canada.
Today, the majority of covered bridges are located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vermont, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Oregon.
Pennsylvania has 219, Ohio has 142, Vermont has more than 100, Indiana: 98, New Hampshire: 54, New Jersey: 35
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The List of Covered Bridges in
North America
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Canada
New Brunswick, 58
Quebec, 82
United States of America
Remaining Historic Covered Bridges per state.
1
Grays River Covered Bridge, 1905 (46.354889, -123.581144)
Cedar Creek Covered Bridge (45.9384588, -122.5834482)
Little Mountain Covered Bridge (45.9914753, -121.496085) private
Cedarburg Covered Bridge, 1876 (43.3372120, -88.0048035)
Chequamegon or Smith Rapids Covered Bridge, 1991 (45.9108224, -90.1719239)
Springwater Saxeville Covered Bridge, (44.1798600, -89.1334933)
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To go back to the Bridge Gallery Index, click on down arrow.
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The Wayƒarers Journal.
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This Page Last Updated: 31 March 2026
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