By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—Though almost entirely rebuilt in the early 2000s, the Sanderson covered bridge on Pearl Street has spanned Otter Creek since 1838. It is the last remaining of Brandon’s covered bridges (neighboring Pittsford has managed to hold onto four!) and, as such, is of significant historic and aesthetic value.
The roof on a covered bridge may seem quaint, but it originally served a practical purpose: keeping the bridge itself free of ice and snow in winter. However, today those picturesque roofs have become a problem unto themselves.
They often cannot accommodate the tractor-trailers that try to pass beneath them.
Over the last year, the Sanderson bridge has suffered several damaging assaults from trucks trying to cross the span without realizing until it was too late that the height of their vehicles exceeded the available clearance.
According to Brandon Town Manager Seth Hopkins, the resulting damage has cost a total of $32,440.65 to repair, though the expense will be borne by Brandon’s insurance company. Moreover, the repairs have necessitated the closure of the bridge for certain periods and the collisions themselves have taken Brandon’s already strained police department away from other tasks and situations.
And despite Brandon’s attempts, it’s proven extremely difficult to prevent these accidents. Warning signs on both sides of the bridge have proven inadequate. Either truckers are ignoring the signage or are unable to read it because of language barriers.
But Brandon is continuing its efforts.
On Monday evening, just in time for Covered Bridge Week across Vermont, Mr. Hopkins attended the Sudbury Selectboard’s regular meeting to request permission to erect additional signage along the approach to the bridge from the Sudbury side.
The original request was to put a sign near the intersection of Long Swamp and Burr Pond Roads, near the historic Ketcham homestead. The Sudbury Selectboard resisted that proposal because the location doesn’t offer an easy turnaround for any trucks that wish to turn back. Instead, the Sudbury Board agreed to allow a sign at the intersection of Willowbrook Road and Burr Pond, where a turnaround is possible, and a sign at Long Swamp and Burr Pond that will advise truckers of an available turnaround farther ahead at the intersection of Long Swamp and Short Swamp Roads.
Most of the collisions between trucks and the bridge have occurred on the approach from the “Sudbury side.” GPS devices and apps often guide trucks coming up Route 30 through Burr Pond and Long Swamp Roads as the shortest route to Routes 7 and/or 73 in Brandon. Attempts to have Google Maps cease this have not been successful.
Brandon would bear the cost of having the signage manufactured and installed.
Mr. Hopkins also explained Monday night and in a subsequent email to The Reporter that Brandon planned to erect telephone poles with swinging PVC bars on both sides of the bridge. The bars would be set to alert any vehicles that cannot pass beneath them that they will also not be able to pass through the bridge. The hope is that the physical reminder will cause the drivers to turn around rather than risk getting stuck and damaging the bridge. The PVC bars would swing as well, so as not to cause damage to the trucks themselves.
Mr. Hopkins described this proposal as a “shoestring approach” that will help prevent further accidents without requiring expensive construction. Mr. Hopkins said that the town already has the poles and that the remaining materials and labor should run only into the low hundreds of dollars.
Other Vermont towns with covered bridges or other difficult roadways have experienced similar issues and have tried all sorts of different methods to prevent damage from trucks, ranging from rigid metal archways to twisting roadways (known as “chicanes”) that force trucks to assess the likelihood of successful passage.
Mr. Hopkins did not offer a specific timeline for the installation of the signage or the poles.
