Covered Bridges on Two Wheels
A photographic journey to Vermont's Covered Bridges
Sanderson Bridge
Standing proud amongst low-lying farm fields is the Sanderson Bridge in Brandon. Named for the family that has owned the adjacent land for generations, it has also been called the Lower Bridge due to the fact that it was downstream from the Upper or Dean Bridge. The Dean Bridge which was on Union Street fell victim to arson in 1986 and replaced with a concrete bridge.
The original bridge on this site was built in 1838 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. A State inspection found the bridge to be in poor condition and it was closed in 1987, with a temporary bridge installed adjacent to it.
Current Status: Open
Location: Brandon, on Pearl Street
Crosses: Otter Creek
GPS: 43.789575N, 73.111719W
Built: 2003 Length: 131 feet
Truss Design: Town lattice
WGN*: VT-11-02#2 NRHP**: not eligible
* WGN: World Guide to Covered Bridges Number
**NRHP: Listed on National Register of Historic Places
The intent of the town at the time was to replace the covered bridge with a steel and concrete one, and renovate the old one enough to allow it to be used by pedestrians and snow machines. But ancient Indian artifacts had been found nearby, and in order for the new bridge to be built, an expensive archaeological dig would be required to accommodate it. If the covered bridge were to be renovated, the dig would not have to happen.
The town proceeded with renewed plans to renovate the Sanderson Bridge for vehicular use, but it turned out that much of the original building material was too badly damaged to be reused. The fact that the roof of the bridge was built with essentially no eave overhang was blamed for water making it down to the lower members of the bridge and rotting them out. But there have been other bridges built like this (the Kingsley Bridge for one) where this doesn't seem to have posed a problem. Not being from the area, I can't positively attest to this theory, but the Otter Creek seems to flood easily, and the Sanderson Bridge lays fairly low to the water. I suspect that flooding may have played more of a role in the demise of the bridge.
Be that as it may, the bridge was rebuilt out of mostly new material, with a smattering of the timbers from the original bridge reused in a token manner. Since the bridge was obviously no longer historic in nature, more modern building materials were used to allow for a greater posted weight limit. Glue laminated beams (glu-lams), which have been a source of controversy when used in covered bridges, were installed for greater strength, but tucked away under the bridge out of sight. In 2003 the new bridge was open for traffic once again.
Visiting the bridge:
Sanderson Bridge is located on a paved road, so access to it is easy. There is a large turnout on the eastern side of the bridge which was pretty nicely packed gravel and dirt.
A more modern addition of guardrails on the floor of the bridge in essence creates walkways so crossing the bridge on foot is pretty safe compared to other bridges. The inclusion of warning pylons at each end of the walkways is unique and kind of reminds you that this is not a historic bridge.
When I visited, there were some patches of red paint on the splash boards covering up some obscene graffiti. If you play around with Google Street View, you can see what they covered up.
Because the banks of the Otter Creek are so low, the underside of the bridge is easy to explore. Note the photo in the slideshow above that shows the western abutment. The builder made use of natural rock formations and then laid rough cut marble blocks for the bridge to rest on. The ingenuity and skill of these builders is pretty incredible considering a lot of these bridges were built essentially by hand.