Old Blenheim Bridge

Old Blenheim Bridge
HAER photo in 2004
Coordinates 42°28′23″N 74°26′28″W / 42.473°N 74.441°W / 42.473; -74.441Coordinates: 42°28′23″N 74°26′28″W / 42.473°N 74.441°W / 42.473; -74.441
Carries Vehicles (1855–1936)
Pedestrians (1936–2011)
Crosses Schoharie Creek
Locale North Blenheim, NY
Characteristics
Design double-barreled Long truss with center arch covered bridge[1][2]
Total length 232 ft 0 in (70.7 m)[3]
Width 26 ft 3 in (8.0 m)[3]
Height 30 feet (9.1 m)[3]
Longest span 210 feet (64 m)[3]
History
Designer Nichols M. Powers[4][3]
Opened 1855[1]
Collapsed August 28, 2011
Old Blenheim Bridge
Location North Blenheim, NY
Coordinates 42°28′19″N 74°26′31″W / 42.471847°N 74.441906°W / 42.471847; -74.441906Coordinates: 42°28′19″N 74°26′31″W / 42.471847°N 74.441906°W / 42.471847; -74.441906
Area Schoharie County
Built 1854–1855
Architect Nichols Montgomery Powers
NRHP reference # 66000570
Significant dates
Added to NRHP October 15, 1966[5]
Designated NHL January 29, 1964[6]
Delisted NHL July 21, 2015

Old Blenheim Bridge was a wooden covered bridge that spanned Schoharie Creek in North Blenheim, New York, United States. With an open span of 210 feet (64 m), it had the longest span of any surviving single-span covered bridge in the world. The Bridgeport Covered Bridge is longer overall at 233 feet (71 m) but has only a 208 feet (63 m) clear span.[1] The bridge, opened in 1855, was also one of the oldest of its type in the United States. It was destroyed by flooding resulting from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Rebuilding of the bridge commenced in 2017 and was completed in 2018.

History

Nichols Montgomery Powers[4][3] was brought in from Vermont to build the bridge by a group of local business men who formed the Blenheim Bridge Company for the purpose of constructing this bridge. The bridge opened in 1855, and remained in use for vehicles until 1932, when a steel truss bridge was constructed near-by. Since then, the bridge was maintained as a historic site open to pedestrians.[1] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.[6][7]

On August 28, 2011, record flooding along the Schoharie Creek, due to Tropical Storm Irene, resulted in the bridge being washed away and completely destroyed.[8]

Longest bridge

Many sources simply claimed the Old Blenheim Bridge was the longest surviving single-span covered bridge, without getting into span-length vs. total-length. There are also sources that claim the Bridgeport Covered Bridge in California is longer. The New York Covered Bridge Society states that Blenheim bridge was 2 feet (0.61 m) longer than "a bridge in California" (presumably Bridgeport), in terms of clear span. Blenheim's clear span was originally 219 feet (67 m), according to this website.

A report by the U.S. Department of the Interior states that the Bridgeport Covered Bridge (HAER No. CA-41) has clear spans of 210 feet (64 m) on one side and 208 feet (63 m) on the other, while Blenheim Bridge (HAER No. NY-331) had a documented clear span of 210 feet (64 m) in the middle (1936 HABS drawings). In August 2003, measurements of post-repair Blenheim Bridge abutments were 209 feet 2 inches (63.75 m) on the upstream side, and 205 feet 6 inches (62.64 m) on the downstream side.[3]

Historically, the longest single-span covered bridge on record was Pennsylvania's McCall's Ferry Bridge with a claimed clear span of 360 feet (110 m) (built 1814–15, destroyed by ice jam 1817).[3]

Destruction

The bridge was destroyed on August 28, 2011, as a result of flooding from Tropical Storm Irene.

A witness saw its roof deposited onto a modern bridge just downstream, when the bridge was swept away at about 1 p.m. Over subsequent months, the Schoharie County Highway Department collected pieces of the bridge up to about 30 miles (48 km) downstream.[9]

On July 21, 2015, National Historic Landmark designation for the bridge was withdrawn and the property was delisted from the National Register of Historic Places.[10]

Replacement

A replacement of the bridge is planned that will be 15 feet (4.6 m) higher to avoid future floods.[11] Plans are for the bridge to "look and feel like it's the old bridge". Plans for replacement of the bridge took time and effort; funding for reconstruction was at first opposed by FEMA, and the chair of a local committee characterized it as "a battle" to get approval.[12] The construction is expected to cost $10.2 million, funded 75 percent by FEMA and 25 percent by New York State; it was started in early 2017. Preserved pieces of the original bridge may be used in some kind of memorial.[13] The construction contract was advertised with bids due in October 2016 by the New York State's Governor's Office on Storm Recovery.[14] PBS broadcast a TV show about the reconstruction in 2018.[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jackson, Donald C. (1988). Great American Bridges and Dams. Wiley. p. 140. ISBN 0-471-14385-5.
  2. ↑ "Blenheim Bridge". Covered Bridges of the Northeast USA.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bennett, Lola (2002). "Blenheim Bridge" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. p. 1. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Jeffords, Jim (Winter 2004). Common Ground, volume 9, number 4 (pdf). Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. p. 2. ISSN 1087-9889. Retrieved 2010-05-30. In 1837, the people of Pittsford, Vermont, contracted 19-year-old Nichols Powers to build a bridge over Otter Creek.
  5. ↑ National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  6. 1 2 "Blenheim Covered Bridge". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-18.
  7. ↑ James Dillon (1974). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Old Blenheim Bridge" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying Photos, from 1974 (642 KB)
  8. ↑ Eckholm, Erik (August 31, 2011). "Covered Bridges, Beloved Remnants of Another Era, Were Casualties, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  9. ↑ http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Piece-by-piece-old-bridge-coming-home-3361382.php |title=Piece by piece, old bridge coming home |author=Bob Gardinier |date=February 25, 2012 |publisher=Albany Times Union
  10. ↑ "Withdrawn Designations: Old Blenheim Bridge". National Park Service.
  11. ↑ Reischel, Julia (September 18, 2015). "The Blenheim Covered Bridge will rise again". Watershed Post. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  12. ↑ Mitsopoulos, Patricia (June 29, 2016). "Blenheim Bridge Design Gets Approval". The Mountain Eagle. Columbia-Greene Media. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  13. ↑ Fitzsimmons, Daniel (June 30, 2016). "New Blenheim Bridge nearing approval". The Daily Gazette. Schenectady, NY. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  14. ↑ Old Blenheim with Old Blenheim Bridge Replacement
  15. ↑ "Operation Bridge Rescue — NOVA | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2018-10-04.

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