Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge

Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge
Crosses	Connecticut River
Locale	Cornish, New Hampshire to Windsor, Vermont
Maintained by	New Hampshire Department of Transportation
Design	Town lattice truss bridge[1]
Material	wood
Total length	449 ft 5 in (137.0 m)
Width	24 ft (7.3 m)
Longest span	204 ft (62.2 m)
Load limit	10 US tons (9.1 metric tons)
Clearance below	12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Construction end	1866[1]
Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city:	Windsor, VT
Coordinates:	43°28′25″N 72°23′2″W / 43.47361°N 72.38389°W / 43.47361; -72.38389Coordinates: 43°28′25″N 72°23′2″W / 43.47361°N 72.38389°W / 43.47361; -72.38389
Built:	1866
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	76000135 [2]
Added to NRHP:	November 21, 1976

The Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge is a covered bridge that spans the Connecticut River between Cornish, New Hampshire and Windsor, Vermont. It was the longest covered bridge still standing in the United States until the Smolen–Gulf Bridge opened in Ohio in 2008.^[3]

While the Old Blenheim Bridge had and Bridgeport Covered Bridge has longer clear spans, and the Smolen-Gulf Bridge is longer overall, with a longest single span of 204 feet (62 m), the Cornish-Windsor Bridge still has the longest single covered span to carry automobile traffic (Blenheim was and Bridgeport is pedestrian only).

History

The bridge is approximately 449 feet (137 m) long and 24 feet (7.3 m) wide. It has a Town lattice type truss. The bridge was originally built in 1866, and rebuilt in 1988. It was designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1970.

The bridge is owned and maintained by the State of New Hampshire, and though often associated with Windsor, is in fact part of the town of Cornish, since the defined boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont is at the western high-water mark of the river. When one drives onto the bridge from the Windsor side of the river they are immediately in New Hampshire. The name is a point of contention among locals since many Cornish inhabitants refer to the bridge as the 'Cornish Covered Bridge' (minus 'Windsor') since, they argue, the bridge belongs to Cornish and not Windsor.^[4]

See also

• List of crossings of the Connecticut River
• List of New Hampshire covered bridges
• List of covered bridges in Vermont
• Old Blenheim Bridge – previous claim of longest single covered span
• Bridgeport Covered Bridge – another claim of longest single covered span
• Hartland Bridge - The longest covered bridge in the world (located in Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Cornish-Windsor Bridge at Structurae
2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
3. ^ Horton, John (2008-08-23). "Ashtabula County really has it covered; New roofed span snatches title of nation's longest". The Plain Dealer. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=NewsBank&p_text_direct-0=document_id=(%20122C4407E1C35F20%20)&p_docid=122C4407E1C35F20&p_theme=aggregated5&p_queryname=122C4407E1C35F20&f_openurl=yes&p_nbid=U60R4CSDMTIxOTk0NDc2My4yOTY0NzoxOjEzOjY2LjIxMy40MS4xNDI&&p_multi=CPDB. Retrieved 2008-08-28. 
4. ^ VERMONT v. NEW HAMPSHIRE 289 U.S. 593 (1933) says the river, and therefore the bridge, is all in New Hampshire.

• ASCE Landmarks by location
• Richard G. Marshall. "New Hampshire Covered Bridges/CORNISH-WINDSOR BRIDGE". New Hampshire Department of Transportation. http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/bridges/p39.html. 

External links

• Cornish-Windsor Bridge, NH Division of Historical Resources