Covered Bridges on Two Wheels
A photographic journey to Vermont's Covered Bridges
Kidder Hill Bridge
Current Status: Open
Location: Grafton, on Kidder Hill Road
Crosses: South Branch of Saxton's River
GPS: 43.169128N, 72.605459W
Built: 1870 Length: 67 feet
Truss Design: Modified kingpost
WGN*: VT-13-03 NRHP**: Yes
* WGN: World Guide to Covered Bridges Number
**NRHP: Listed on National Register of Historic Places
The current Kidder Hill Bridge was built in 1870 to replace a bridge destroyed by floods that also took out many other bridges in the area.
The bridge saw heavy use in its early days thanks to a soapstone quarry nearby. It is one of only a handful of covered bridges left in the state that employ the kingpost truss, although it was modified in this case.
This bridge is located just outside the quintessentially Vermont small village center, filled with buildings and homes that are a hundred or more years old.
Kidder Hill Bridge had been serving admirably until the 1990s when the state deemed it unsafe. I suspect that this was due to years of pounding from loaded stone wagons, and the fact that it was built using a kingpost truss which experts say is not effective for longer spans such as this. Since it serves very few residents on the other side these days, heavy traffic was not a concern. Nevertheless, the townspeople rallied to save the bridge from closure and replacement. However, the restoration is a controversial one.
Rather than simply bracing the bridge by placing steel beams underneath, as had been done with numerous other bridges in the state, the engineering solution drawn up and accepted employed the use of glue laminated beams. These glulam beams are quite visible inside the bridge. They extend the length of the bridge and rest on the abutments similar to how stringers would. Additional glulam beams underneath the bridge are tied to these upper ones and help support the structure.
Covered bridge preservationists decry the use of such modern materials. Strong, large, old-growth timbers just are not available anymore and modern materials are needed to save some of these bridges. The use of glulam beams in this case may have more to do with aesthetics more than anything, as they are quite prevalent... not hidden at all. On the positive side, they are serving well as guardrails as the gouges and marks on them attest.
Be that as it may, the restorations was completed in 1995 to much fanfare.
More recently, the bridge escaped destruction as flood waters from Tropical Storm Irene washed away the approaches and damaged the abutments. It was closed for several weeks until repairs could be finished.
Visiting the bridge:
Kidder Hill Road is paved until just before you get to the bridge. But being paved doesn't mean it's wide! This road is really more like an old English lane, wide enough for just one car.
There is no official parking at the bridge, but some "wide-spots" have been created on either side over the years. Due to the low traffic, parking on the side of the road should not be too much of an issue.
As you visit, in addition to examining the glulam beam additions, also note that like a few other bridges represented in these pages, this one was built on a skew. In fact, satellite imagery shows this quite well.