“The Church Street Covered Bridge, also called the Village Covered Bridge,[2] is a wooden covered bridge that crosses the North Branch of the Lamoille River (also known as the Kelly River) in Waterville, Vermont off State Route 109. Built in the late 19th century, it is one of five covered bridges in a space of about five miles that cross the North Branch Lamoille. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.[1]
The Church Street Bridge is located in the central village of Waterville, just west of the Waterville Union Church and the junction of Church Street with Vermont Route 109. It is a single-span Queen post truss design, 61 feet (19 m) long and 15 feet (4.6 m) wide, with a roadway width of 12.5 feet (3.8 m), carrying one lane of traffic. It has a gabled metal roof, and its exterior is clad in vertical board siding which extends around to the insides of the portals. The siding on the sides ends short of the roof, leaving an open strip. It rests on abutments of dry laid stone capped with concrete. The trusses incorporate iron rods extending from the top of the diagonal bracing to the bottom chords. The bridge deck is wooden planking laid over steel I-beams, which carry the active load.[3]
The bridge was built about 1877 by an unknown builder. Along with two bridges in Waterville and two more in neighboring Belvidere, it is one of five covered bridges in a five-mile span of the North Branch Lamoille River, representing one of the densest concentrations of bridges over a single body of water in the state.[3]
In 1967, the back wheels of a truck fell through the floor. Subsequently, steel I-beams were installed under the bridge. In 1970, the bridge survived a fire at a nearby house when firefighters hosed it down to prevent it from catching.[4] In 2000, it was completely rebuilt.”-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Street_Covered_Bridge
Some Incidents:
“The Covered Spans of Yesteryear website notes the following work over the past fifty years: “In the winter of 1967 a truck went through the deck. It was rebuilt in 1968 with an independent roadway reinforced with four steel beams. The bridge also survived a fire in 1970 that started at a nearby house. In October 1999, it was closed after being damaged by an oversized truck. The repairs were completed in March 2000.””-https://www.vermontbridges.org/lamoille_county_church_street.shtml
Queen Post Truss:
“A queen post is a tension member in a truss that can span longer openings than a king post truss. A king post uses one central supporting post, whereas the queen post truss uses two.[1] Even though it is a tension member, rather than a compression member, they are commonly still called a post…
A queen-post bridge has two uprights, placed about one-third of the way from each end of the truss. They are connected across the top by a beam and use a diagonal brace between the outer edges. The central square between the two verticals is either unbraced (on shorter spans), or has one or two diagonal braces for rigidity. A single diagonal reaches between opposite corners; two diagonal braces may either reach from the bottom of each upright post to the center of the upper beam, or form a corner-to-corner “X” inside the square.[4]”-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_post