List of covered bridges

West Montrose Covered Bridge in West Montrose, Ontario, October 2018

The 1,282-foot (391 m) Hartland Bridge in New Brunswick is the longest covered bridge in the world. In 1900 Quebec, New Brunswick, and Ontario had an estimated 1000, 400, and five covered bridges respectively. In the 1990s there were 98 in Quebec,[9] 58 in New Brunswick,[10] and one in Ontario, the West Montrose Covered Bridge.[11] Between 1969 and 2015, the number of surviving covered bridges in Canada dropped from about 400 to under 200.[12]

At least two covered bridges make the claim of being the first built in the United States. Town records for Swanzey, New Hampshire, indicate their Carleton Bridge was built in 1789, but this remains unverified.[13] Philadelphia, however, claims a bridge built in the early 1800s on 30th Street and over the Schuylkill River was the first, noting that investors wanted it covered to extend its life.[14] Beginning around 1820, new designs were developed, such as the Burr, Lattice, and Brown trusses.

According to Covered Bridges Today by Brenda Krekler, as many as 12,000 covered bridges once existed in the United States; that number dropped to under 1,500 by the 1950s.[15] The National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges was formed in 1950.[15]

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) encourages the preservation of covered bridges with its Covered Bridge Manual.[16] By 2018, less than one thousand still survived in the US.[17]

Today, covered bridges exist in many states:

• Alabama – eleven extant.
• California – eleven were reported in 2002,[18] including one at Knight's Ferry.[19]
• Connecticut – Two covered bridges span the Housatonic River in Litchfield County; one covered bridge spans the Salmon River in Middlesex County. See Covered Bridges in Connecticut.
• Delaware – Three bridges remain in New Castle county.
• Georgia – sixteen extant.
• Illinois – five historic covered bridges remain in the state, most notably the Red Covered Bridge north of Princeton.[20]
• Indiana – In 1980, Indiana was reported as having 130 extant covered bridges, with the highest number (36) in Parke County.[21]
• Iowa – Nineteen covered bridges were built in Iowa between 1855 and 1885; nine remain, five of which are in Madison County around Winterset (see List of covered bridges in Madison County, Iowa).[22]
• Kentucky – As many as 700 covered bridges existed in the past, though only 12 are known to still exist. 11 are open to the public, and one exists on private property; all are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[23]
• Maine – ten extant.
• Maryland – six remain as of 2015.[24]
• Massachusetts – twelve extant as of 2003; see list of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts.
• Michigan – eight extant.
• Minnesota – most notable is the Zumbrota Covered Bridge.[25]
• Missouri – four extant.

The oldest extant covered railroad bridge in the United States is located in Hopkinton, New Hampshire.

• New Hampshire – At one time there were about 400 covered bridges in New Hampshire.[26] It was reported that "at the end of twentieth century there were still nearly seventy covered bridges in New Hampshire."[27] In 2006, it was reported that there are 54 surviving bridges administered by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, the most famous being the Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge (1866), spanning the Connecticut River from Cornish, New Hampshire to Windsor, Vermont; this bridge is the longest wooden covered bridge in the United States.[26]
• New Jersey – New Jersey had up to 35 covered bridges at its peak; many that were destroyed or damaged in various major floods are rebuilt as metal truss bridges.[28] Today, two covered bridges remain: Green Sergeant's Covered Bridge (19th century) and Scarborough Bridge (1959).[28]
• New York – 24 identified by New York Society of Covered Bridges.
• North Carolina – two remain, the Pisgah and Bunker Hill.[29]
• Ohio – 142 remain, the second-highest of any state, down from over 4,000 at peak.[30]
• Oregon – 50 extant.
• Pennsylvania – about 219 remain, the most of any state.[30] See List of covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania.
• Rhode Island – only the Swamp Meadow Covered Bridge.[31]
• South Carolina – The only remaining covered bridge in South Carolina is Campbell's Covered Bridge in Greenville County.[32]
• Tennessee – four remain as of 1980.[33]
• Vermont – "Vermont is justly famous for her covered bridges. No other state has built and still possesses so many of the old timbered crossings in so small an area."[34] In 1996, 106 covered bridges were reported in Vermont.[35]
• Virginia – six extant.
• Washington – Only a few traditional covered bridges remain in Washington,[36] and not all are publicly accessible.
• West Virginia – seventeen extant.
• Wisconsin – The only remaining historic covered bridge in Wisconsin is the covered bridge in Cedarburg.[37][38] There are also the Smith Rapids Covered Bridge in Park Falls built in 1991,[39] and the Springwater Volunteer Covered Bridge built in 1997.[40]