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Ashtabula County's newest, with fir, pine and poplar, is longest in U.S. at 613 feet
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff reporter
Published on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008
ASHTABULA: Ashtabula County has more covered bridges than any other Ohio county. It calls itself the Covered Bridge Capital of Ohio.
Now it has a new covered bridge, No. 17, and it's a monster. It is the longest covered bridge in the United States and the fourth longest in the world.
The new bridge, known as the Smolen-Gulf Bridge Ashtabula County Highway 25, stretches 613 feet across the Ashtabula River just south of the city of Ashtabula.
The previous longest covered bridge in the U.S. was the 450-foot-long Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge over the Connecticut River between New Hampshire and Vermont. The longest in the world is the Hartland Covered Bridge, a 1,282-foot span in Canada's New Brunswick.
The new Ohio bridge — it cost $7.78 million — separates Ashtabula and Plymouth townships and has been drawing a steady stream of visitors since it was dedicated in August.
The bridge features two 30-foot-wide lanes and two outside walkways. The bridge is 51 feet wide and 37 feet high, stands 93 feet above the river and provides a vertical clearance of 14 1/2 feet for vehicles.
The roadway is made of three feet of glue-laminated Douglas fir and yellow pine with hemlock and yellow poplar used for the siding.
The structure, a Pratt truss-design bridge, was assembled in four 152-foot-long sections. It contains enough wood to cover a football field 13 inches high.
It replaced a 1948 steel girder bridge that was used by about 1,800 vehicles per day. The new bridge can handle two 80,000-pound tractor-trailers at one time.
It cost about $800,000 more than standard building materials but is expected to last at least 100 years, county officials said.
Building a covered bridge was pushed by John Smolen, who was Ashtabula County engineer from 1975-2002.
There is a parking lot on the southeast side and a small township park under the bridge.
Ashtabula County once had 53 covered bridges and Ohio once had an estimated 4,000 covered bridges, of which 140 are still standing, says the Ohio Historic Bridge Association. Check out http://www.oldohiobridges.com/ohba/index.htm.
Nationally, about 1,000 covered bridges still stand.
To get to the new bridge from Akron, take state Route 8 north to Interstate 271. Take I-271 north toward Cleveland. Follow the signs for I-90 east and Erie, Pa. Exit I-90 on state Route 11 north toward Ashtabula. Take the first exit, Seven Hills Road, to the right (east) until it ends. Turn left (north) on State Road South. It will take you to the new covered bridge.
Ashtabula County offers two driving tours of its 16 other covered bridges. One includes 11 bridges and covers 69 miles, the other has five bridges and covers 66 miles.
The county also hosts a two-day Covered Bridge Festival on the second weekend of October, complete with guided and drive-it-yourself tours from the county fairgrounds in Jefferson.
You can get a map of the county's covered bridges at the Ashtabula County Convention and Visitors Bureau, 1850 Austinburg Road, Austinburg 44010, 440-275-3202, http://www.visitashtabulacounty.com.
For festival information, contact the Covered Bridge Festival, Ashtabula County Courthouse, 25 W. Jefferson St., Jefferson 44047, 440-576-3769. The Internet site is http://www.coveredbridgefestival.org.
I visited one additional Ashtabula County bridge: the Riverdale Road Covered Bridge near Rock Creek. The 114-foot-long bridge was built in 1874 over the Grand River. It was rebuilt in 1981.
You can access Riverdale Road from state Route 45 on the east or state Route 534 on the west.
Also not far from Rock Creek is Morgan Swamp, a 1,000-acre sanctuary owned by the Nature Conservancy and opened to the public in 2006.
It features a short trail to a wooden deck above a beaver pond. A longer loop trail through the preserve off Footville-Richmond Road (state Route 166) is planned.
The preserve features plants and animals more typically found farther north in Canada's swamp forests, marshes, bogs and sedge meadows along the Grand River.
The area was logged, drained, farmed and its peat was harvested. But the wetlands have been largely undisturbed for 100 years and have recovered.
The remaining swamp covers 2,000 acres, and what is owned by the Nature Conservancy is one of the largest privately owned wetlands in Ohio and one of the largest undeveloped interior wetlands in the state. The national conservation group spent more than $1.2 million to purchase the preserve.
The preserve, part of what's called the Grand River Lowlands, features 108 bird species, 24 fishes, 28 reptiles and 24 mammals.
The wetlands were created 12,000 years ago when a glacial lake formed, depositing clay and silt from five to 50 feet deep.
Hours: dawn to dusk. For information, call 614-717-2770 or check out http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/ohio/preserves/art3029.html.
There is one other new thing in Ashtabula County: the Ashtabula River as the newest inclusion to Ohio's wild and scenic river system. The designation became official Oct. 30 and the Ashtabula becomes the 14th Ohio stream to be so honored.
Three stream segments totaling 46 miles along the river were designated scenic: the main stream and the West and East branches.
The Ashtabula becomes the third stream in the county to be added to the state system, along with the Grand River and Conneaut Creek.
Other Ohio streams are the Big and Little Darby Creek, Chagrin River, Kokosing River, Little Miami River, Little Beaver Creek, Maumee River, Mohican River, Olentangy River, Sandusky River, Stillwater River/Greenville Creek and Upper Cuyahoga River in Portage and Geauga counties. The designated sections cover 800 miles.
Little Beaver Creek, Big and Little Darby Creek and the Little Miami River have also been recognized as National Scenic Rivers.
For more information, call 614-265-6453 or check out http://www.ohiodnr.gov or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
ASHTABULA: Ashtabula County has more covered bridges than any other Ohio county. It calls itself the Covered Bridge Capital of Ohio.
Get the full article here.
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