Information for In Committee news reports are sourced from GoldenDomeVt.com and the General Assembly website.
by VDC staff
Are covered bridges an important part of Vermont’s cultural heritage and should the state play a larger role in helping protect them?
On Friday, the House Committee on Transportation was introduced to H.810 , a new bill sponsored by Representative Alicia Malay (R/D-Rutland 8) that aims to help municipalities manage the safety of their covered bridges. Unfortunately, this help comes too late for some towns that have experienced tragedies for their local bridges.
Her bill directs the Agency of Transportation to provide assistance to municipalities in establishing appropriate limits for weight, height, and width for covered bridges. The bill also directs the Agency to help towns with barriers or other strategies to prevent vehicle crossings that don’t conform with those limits, and to help towns obtain grants for those barriers. Lastly, the bill proposes to increase criminal penalties for arson or intentional damages made to covered bridges.
According to Malay, the Vermont Covered Bridge Society brought the need to her attention as many towns, even those that often have damage to their bridges, were reluctant to post signage to prevent collisions as the towns didn’t know if they were allowed. Her bill intends to fill that gap in education and help keep their bridges safe.
Vermont has the highest concentration of early 20th and 19th century covered bridges in the country, and the highest amount per capita, even though there are under 100 left in the state. As Malay explained to the committee, towns face constant worry of their historic covered bridges being damaged. Maintenance and rebuilding costs are costly and usually mean that a destroyed bridge will be replaced by a cheaper one—which isn’t usually as aesthetically pleasing.
The town of Troy in the Northeast Kingdom experienced such an event in 2021. The bridge, 88 feet long and over a century old, was quickly engulfed in flames when a damaged snowmobile caught fire inside the bridge. The fire department was unable to save the structure which ultimately collapsed into the river and shut down traffic until the town was able to construct a temporary bridge. The town was unable to raise the funds and the temporary bridge in Troy became permanent.