Latest news with #coveredbridge
CTV News
23-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
‘Deteriorating' N.B. covered bridge closed
The Poirier Covered Bridge in Notre-Dame, N.B., is seen with a closed sign in front of it. (CTV/Derek Haggett) A covered bridge in Notre-Dame, NB has been closed for safety reasons. Department of Transportation and Infrastructure [DTI] spokesperson Jacob MacDonald said the Poirier Covered Bridge was closed to traffic on July 2 due to its 'deteriorating condition' and is beginning to review options for the structure. Built in 1942, the 41-metre bridge stands over the Cocagne River roughly 30 minutes north of Moncton. Road closure signs at one of the entrances to the bridge have been thrown in a nearby ditch and the concrete slabs used as a road block have been shifted so that vehicles can cross it. 'Department staff have since been made aware of the discarded barricades and we will soon be installing guiderails on both sides of the bridge in the interest of public safety,' said MacDonald in an email. Ginette LeBlanc lives about 100 metres away and said the closure has had a big impact on the people in the community. 'It's unbelievable the amount of people that take wedding pictures, graduation pictures with the covered bridge. We've talked to the government and they say they don't know yet what they're going to do with it,' said LeBlanc. MacDonald said DTI has started reviewing options for the 41-metre bridge, but the associated cost cannot be determined right now. 'Improvements to detour roads have been made for better access to the area around the bridge,' said MacDonald. LeBlanc pointed out a few areas where the wood has rotted on the structure, but feels like it could be fixed by the province. 'Right now they're not even saying if they're going to fix it, if they're going to replace it, or if they're going to tear it down all together and have the road closure completely,' said LeBlanc. Poirier Covered Bridge A deteriorated area of the Poirier Covered Bridge is seen . (CTV/Derek Haggett) Shane Fitzsimmons also lives nearby and like LeBlanc, he's hoping for some answers. 'A lot of people have bought a place, property around the area, to enjoy the river. Four-wheeling activities, snowmobiling in the wintertime including myself and now we have no access to go across the river whatsoever,' said Fitzsimmons. 'We need some answers about what they're going to do with the bridge. Whether they're going to rebuild it or if they're going to replace it or fix it.' Robert Babineau has a sawmill and maple sugar shack a few kilometres from the bridge but now has to take a detour to get there. 'I've got to go all the way around. Gives me 40 kilometres a day and I'm here six days a week,' said Babineau. 'It gives me 240 kilometres extra. I mean, the wear and tear on my truck, plus the fuel.' Covered Bridges Conservation Association of New Brunswick president Raymond Boucher told CTV News in February there were once 343 covered bridges in New Brunswick during the 1950s, but only 58 remain. The William Mitton Bridge in Riverview was torn down in February because it had been deteriorating for years and could not be saved. The Shepody River #3 Covered Bridge near Riverside-Albert was dismantled this spring, but will be replaced with a single-lane modular bridge. A modular bridge will also be constructed next to the Wheaton Covered Bridge in Sackville, but will not likely be ready until late 2026. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CBC
09-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Province reluctant to admit rickety N.B. bridge was slated for demolition, documents show
When the William Mitton Covered Bridge in Riverview was torn down last winter, many were heartbroken. But its demolition was not surprising. Closed to traffic since 1981, the bridge developed a dramatic sag in the middle, its abutments looked ready to pop, and several beams hung lazily from the roof they once held up. Documents obtained by CBC News after a right to information request reveal the New Brunswick government's reluctance to publicly admit the bridge was slated for demolition, despite having made plans a year and a half earlier to get rid of it. The documents also show an official with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure called for a provincial strategy to handle aging covered bridges in a less reactive way. "We are at a point in time when a discussion has to be made to invest in the covered bridge or dismantle," Glen MacDonald, the assistant director of bridge maintenance, wrote in June 2023. "There is no funding allotted for this bridge at this time." But when CBC reported on the bridge's rough condition the next month, a department spokesperson would only say the future of the bridge was "yet to be determined." Just days after the CBC story, a department superintendent, Jean-Marc Arseneault, wrote in an email that he concluded the bridge was beyond repair. "The structure should be removed before someone gets hurt," Arsenault said. That same day, Corey White of the planning and project development division wrote: "I know I am speaking to the choir here, but we really need direction from [the province] on these bridges as we will see lots more of these last-minute issues — and we can manage these in an orderly fashion if we were to get the strategy approved." By August, DTI was drafting diagrams of how to remove the bridge. WATCH | 'The structure should be removed before someone gets hurt.' Bridge's demise was obvious, but province was slow to admit demolition plan 40 minutes ago Duration 4:09 The William Mitton Covered Bridge in Riverview was demolished in February 2025, but documents CBC News obtained show the province had decided its fate long before. That November, the department received an inspection report from a hired consultant in Fredericton. "The structure should be demolished and removed as soon as possible," said the report from Hilcon Ltd., adding that it was too dangerous to have workers near it. "In our opinion, a complete structural collapse is imminent and controlled demolition is preferable to allowing the structure to collapse into the watercourse below." Most of the emails CBC received were written when Blaine Higgs and the Progressive Conservatives were in power. Despite the dire warnings from provincial officials and experts, the bridge remained for over a year until its removal in February 2025. Throughout 2024, emails show, the spokesperson for the department was withholding telling the media about the bridge's fate. "[CTV News is] looking for a definitive answer on DTI's plans for saving this bridge, but I know we've refrained from speaking to this point in both of our previous responses," spokesperson Jacob MacDonald wrote in August 2024. In October, staff from the Town of Riverview public works department also began send photos of the bridge to department officials. "Conditions are getting worse," a Riverview official wrote. By that November, the provincial officials were also getting impatient, with one writing, "We need to strike while the iron is hot … each day that passes makes it harder to remove safely." They were also drafting "communication plans" for two scenarios: either the bridge would be removed or it would collapse. Ray Boucher of the New Brunswick Covered Bridge Association said in an interview that his group has tried hard to save the bridge but that it ultimately came down to a lack of funds. He said the department was "more than fair" giving his group time to try to raise money for the bridge, and that's why the removal was so delayed. "They virtually gave me two years before they finally decided that it had to come down," Boucher said. "So under the Higgs government, I've got nothing but praise." Chuck Chiasson, who has been transportation minister since the Liberals were elected last fall, there was a "loose strategy" on managing covered bridges when he took over. "But I want something more comprehensive that's going to be more forward-looking that we can say which ones are going to be at risk, which ones do we need to start mitigating now , nd how are we going to do that?" Chiasson said, but didn't give an exact timeline. Boucher said that he believes the department looks at the covered bridges on a case-by-case basis, and if there is a strategy, "I've never seen it." Officials do the best they can with their budget, but "a covered bridge is not an asset, it's a liability," he said. "That's the way the province looks at it." "DTI, their mandate is to get you from one side of a river to the other side of the river," Boucher said. He added that it might make more sense to have the Tourism Department take over some of the covered bridges not actively carrying traffic. When asked about this, Chiasson said it could be discussed in the future. He also confirmed that another aging covered bridge near Fundy National Park had recently been torn down as well. In 1953, New Brunswick had 340 bridges, according to the covered bridge group. Today there are 57. How Vermont protects its covered bridges Not far away is New Brunswick's American cousin in terms of covered bridge fame. Vermont, with more than 100 covered bridges, adopted an official strategy to preserve them in 2003. The strategy outlines how bridges are prioritized as well as how they are to be maintained while keeping their historic character. "It's a very good document," said JB McCarthy, a covered bridge expert with the Vermont Agency of Transportation. "We've been using it for years." There's also a state covered bridge committee that monitors the bridges and highlights those in need of repair, he said. McCarthy said he's not aware of any case of a covered bridge in Vermont being taken down because of disrepair. When shown a photo of the Mitton bridge in its final years, he said he's never seen a covered bridge in Vermont get "quite that bad." The bridges are important for tourism, he added. "I think the state as a whole has an eye on these things and does the best we can to try to maintain them and squeeze them in for projects when we can." Watching the Wheaton Covered Bridge While the Mitton bridge is relegated to a memory, another covered bridge in southeast New Brunswick, the Wheaton Covered Bridge, still stands just outside Sackville. Standing high in contrast with the flat, windswept Tantramar Marsh, the bridge is beloved by locals. Mainly used by farmers to access their fields, the bridge was abruptly shut down last summer after a worrying inspection. Chiasson announced changes would be made to divert traffic around the Wheaton Covered Bridge, over a modular bridge, to preserve the older bridge's history while addressing farmers' need to use the road. Local Green Party MLA Megan Mitton has been advocating a fix for the Wheaton Covered Bridge and praised the proposal for both goals of preserving history and allowing farmers access. "In terms of just our local culture, people go get their prom photos and their wedding photos taken there," she said. "So there does need to be a strategy that's less reactive and actually plans out what's going to need to be done to deal with our bridges."
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Province reluctant to admit rickety N.B. bridge was slated for demolition, documents show
When the William Mitton Covered Bridge in Riverview was torn down last winter, many were heartbroken. But its demolition was not surprising. Closed to traffic since 1981, the bridge developed a dramatic sag in the middle, its abutments looked ready to pop, and several beams hung lazily from the roof they once held up. Documents obtained by CBC News after a right to information request reveal the New Brunswick government's reluctance to publicly admit the bridge was slated for demolition, despite having made plans a year and a half earlier to get rid of it. The documents also show an official with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure called for a provincial strategy to handle aging covered bridges in a less reactive way. "We are at a point in time when a discussion has to be made to invest in the covered bridge or dismantle," Glen MacDonald, the assistant director of bridge maintenance, wrote in June 2023. "There is no funding allotted for this bridge at this time." But when CBC reported on the bridge's rough condition the next month, a department spokesperson would only say the future of the bridge was "yet to be determined." Just days after the CBC story, a department superintendent, Jean-Marc Arseneault, wrote in an email that he concluded the bridge was beyond repair. "The structure should be removed before someone gets hurt," Arsenault said. That same day, Corey White of the planning and project development division wrote: "I know I am speaking to the choir here, but we really need direction from [the province] on these bridges as we will see lots more of these last-minute issues — and we can manage these in an orderly fashion if we were to get the strategy approved." By August, DTI was drafting diagrams of how to remove the bridge. WATCH | 'The structure should be removed before someone gets hurt.' That November, the department received an inspection report from a hired consultant in Fredericton. "The structure should be demolished and removed as soon as possible," said the report from Hilcon Ltd., adding that it was too dangerous to have workers near it. "In our opinion, a complete structural collapse is imminent and controlled demolition is preferable to allowing the structure to collapse into the watercourse below." Most of the emails CBC received were written when Blaine Higgs and the Progressive Conservatives were in power. Despite the dire warnings from provincial officials and experts, the bridge remained for over a year until its removal in February 2025. Throughout 2024, emails show, the spokesperson for the department was withholding telling the media about the bridge's fate. "[CTV News is] looking for a definitive answer on DTI's plans for saving this bridge, but I know we've refrained from speaking to this point in both of our previous responses," spokesperson Jacob MacDonald wrote in August 2024. In October, staff from the Town of Riverview public works department also began send photos of the bridge to department officials. "Conditions are getting worse," a Riverview official wrote. By that November, the provincial officials were also getting impatient, with one writing, "We need to strike while the iron is hot … each day that passes makes it harder to remove safely." They were also drafting "communication plans" for two scenarios: either the bridge would be removed or it would collapse. Ray Boucher of the New Brunswick Covered Bridge Association said in an interview that his group has tried hard to save the bridge but that it ultimately came down to a lack of funds. He said the department was "more than fair" giving his group time to try to raise money for the bridge, and that's why the removal was so delayed. "They virtually gave me two years before they finally decided that it had to come down," Boucher said. "So under the Higgs government, I've got nothing but praise." Chuck Chiasson, who has been transportation minister since the Liberals were elected last fall, there was a "loose strategy" on managing covered bridges when he took over. "But I want something more comprehensive that's going to be more forward-looking that we can say which ones are going to be at risk, which ones do we need to start mitigating now , nd how are we going to do that?" Chiasson said, but didn't give an exact timeline. Boucher said that he believes the department looks at the covered bridges on a case-by-case basis, and if there is a strategy, "I've never seen it." Officials do the best they can with their budget, but "a covered bridge is not an asset, it's a liability," he said. "That's the way the province looks at it." "DTI, their mandate is to get you from one side of a river to the other side of the river," Boucher said. He added that it might make more sense to have the Tourism Department take over some of the covered bridges not actively carrying traffic. When asked about this, Chiasson said it could be discussed in the future. He also confirmed that another aging covered bridge near Fundy National Park had recently been torn down as well. In 1953, New Brunswick had 340 bridges, according to the covered bridge group. Today there are 57. Not far away is New Brunswick's American cousin in terms of covered bridge fame. Vermont, with more than 100 covered bridges, adopted an official strategy to preserve them in 2003. The strategy outlines how bridges are prioritized as well as how they are to be maintained while keeping their historic character. "It's a very good document," said JB McCarthy, a covered bridge expert with the Vermont Agency of Transportation. "We've been using it for years." There's also a state covered bridge committee that monitors the bridges and highlights those in need of repair, he said. McCarthy said he's not aware of any case of a covered bridge in Vermont being taken down because of disrepair. When shown a photo of the Mitton bridge in its final years, he said he's never seen a covered bridge in Vermont get "quite that bad." The bridges are important for tourism, he added. "I think the state as a whole has an eye on these things and does the best we can to try to maintain them and squeeze them in for projects when we can." While the Mitton bridge is relegated to a memory, another covered bridge in southeast New Brunswick, the Wheaton Covered Bridge, still stands just outside Sackville. Standing high in contrast with the flat, windswept Tantramar Marsh, the bridge is beloved by locals. Mainly used by farmers to access their fields, the bridge was abruptly shut down last summer after a worrying inspection. Chiasson announced changes would be made to divert traffic around the Wheaton Covered Bridge, over a modular bridge, to preserve the older bridge's history while addressing farmers' need to use the road. Local Green Party MLA Megan Mitton has been advocating a fix for the Wheaton Covered Bridge and praised the proposal for both goals of preserving history and allowing farmers access. "In terms of just our local culture, people go get their prom photos and their wedding photos taken there," she said. "So there does need to be a strategy that's less reactive and actually plans out what's going to need to be done to deal with our bridges."
CTV News
26-05-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Modular bridge to be built in Sackville, N.B.
Atlantic Watch There's some good news for people who live near a covered bridge in Sackville, N.B., but they'll have to be patient.
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- CBS News
Long Grove, Illinois covered bridge hit by a truck yet again
It happened yet again — another truck hit the historic covered bridge in Long Grove, Illinois, north of Chicago. This time, it was not the bridge, but the truck that sustained the most damage. The historic bridge is a main attraction. But business owners say just about every week, a truck gets stuck trying to go through the bridge. "It keeps the town busy. It definitely makes a big scene when it happens," said Rachael Swift, owner of Rachael's Whimsical Boutique in Long Grove. "That becomes a two-, three-hour escapade of trying to get them out from under the bridge." Swift said she saw a truck slam into the bridge as it sped by on Monday. "He didn't look like he was going to slow down, so I ran around and ran outside, and I grabbed my phone and started taking pictures — and you can kind of hear this crunching of him trying to squeeze under the bridge," she said. "Once he got stuck under the bridge yesterday, he tried backing out, and it just sounds like metal crunching up on itself." CBS News Chicago has reported on mishaps involving the covered bridge numerous times. In September 2022, a truck got stuck. The very next week, the same happened to a U-Haul. In March 2023, an Amazon truck couldn't get through. At that time, the Lake County Sheriff's office said it was the 45th time the bridge has been struck since reopening in 2020. The village's visiting center says the iconic Robert Parker Coffin Bridge dates back to the 1840s. The first bridge, according to the Long Grove History website, was a "simple wooden affair" that provided a less messy alternative for those who otherwise would have ridden their horses through Buffalo Creek. The wooden bridge was replaced with a modern truss structure in 1906. The covering, while it may seem like a quaint piece of turn-of-the-last-century Americana too, did not come around until 1972. The bridge was reinforced with a steel structure in 2020 to avoid expensive repairs. That came after it was closed for two years when it was severely damaged by a truck crash in 2018. The Facebook page for the Long Grove covered bridge accident tracker said this was the 66th time the bridge has been hit since 2020. "We'll have some times where it'll get hit once a week, or it'll be a couple of weeks or a month — and then all of a sudden, one will hit it," said Swift. Despite signs stating trucks aren't allowed to go through, Swift believes it will happen again. "It's going to happen. I hate to have to say that, but there's only so much the village and just as business owners we can do," she said. "It really is on the person who's driving the truck and just building that awareness." CBS News Chicago reached out to Long Grove Village President Bill Jacob to see whether the village will be making any changes to prevent this, but we have not heard back.
