Well Covered. Longest Timber Bridge in the U.S. up to Handling Task

This article discusses how many bridge specifiers consider covered timber bridges relics from the last century, but in fact the longest timber bridge in the U.S. has just been completed in Ohio over the Ashtabula River. It is the fifth timber bridge built in Ashtabula County in the past 75 years. The 613-ft span is designed and engineered to carry highway loads. This means that the high-strength span could hold 16 loaded semitrailers lined up end to end in both lanes. The Ashtabula County engineer who conceived and performed the design calculations and acquired the grants to construct the bridge, got some expert assistance from a veteran company recognized as an international leader in the glued-laminated timber industry over the last 75 years. The engineer said the fact that this bridge is on a busy highway—traffic count was about 2,500 vehicles a day—was key to obtaining funding for its construction. The project qualified for $5 million in federal bridge grants. The Ohio Public Works Commission contributed $800,000, and the county’s share of motor-vehicle gas tax footed the balance of the $8 million price tag. The article discusses the entire construction process.