West Liberty Street Covered Bridge

West Liberty Street Covered Bridge - Geneva, Ohio

Ashtabula County, Ohio boasts both the longest and shortest covered bridges currently standing in the United States, just a mere twelve miles apart from each other. The shorter of the bridges is the West Liberty Street Covered Bridge, located in Geneva, Ohio. The covered bridge spans 18 feet in length and was built in 2011 to replace a damaged culvert. The bridge uses a single kingpost truss and was the first modern kingpost timber covered bridge in Ashtabula County. With exception of the railings for the sidewalk, the covered bridge is a bit more open than many longer spans, but also features a roof with a more pronounced slope than many other covered bridges. A toll booth was also built to pay homage to the days when a toll collector was stationed at many a covered bridge.

It was in October 2007 when Geneva city manager Jim Pearson announced a plan to build the shortest covered bridge in the United States in the city. Since Ashtabula County is known for its wide array of covered bridges, the thought was to honor this fact and build something that brings people to the area. The city of Geneva really tried to bring the local community together with the construction of the covered bridge. John Smolen, a former Ashtabula County engineer and founder of Smolen Engineering in Jefferson, Ohio, designed the West Liberty Street Covered Bridge. A local mill processed the wood that, and roofing materials came in as a donation. Wood used in the construction of the covered bridge was selected from locally sourced oak, maple and poplar trees. Students from the Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus built the covered bridge in a modular fashion.

I had the chance to visit the West Liberty Street Covered Bridge and visit this quirky little spot. I appreciate the outside the box thinking in transforming a standard culvert into something memorable that the entire community can be proud of and enjoy, whether they drive a car, ride a bike or walk along the bridge's sidewalks.

How to Get There:

Sources and Links:
Ashtabula County Barn Quilt Trail - West Liberty Street, Geneva
Ohio Magazine - Nation’s Shortest Covered Bridge, Geneva
Ashtabula County, Ohio Visitors Bureau - West Liberty Street Covered Bridge
The Historical Marker Database - Liberty Street Covered Bridge

Comments

Hawaii Route 8930

Hawaii Route 8930 is a 2.5-mile State Highway on the Island of O'hau. Hawaii Route 8930 is aligned over Kualakai Parkway over the course of its entire alignment south from Interstate H-1 to Kapolei Parkway. Hawaii Route 8930 is one of the newest Hawaii Routes only having been completed during 2010. This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page. All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 8930 The history of Hawaii Route 8930 is brief given it is a modern facility. Hawaii Route 8930 and what was known as "North-South Road" were built to facilitate the developing areas of Kapolei on western O'ahu. According to hawaiihighways.com the first stage of Hawaii Route 8930 was completed from Kapolei Parkway north to Farrington Highway as a four-lane highway during November...

Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

Madera County Road 607 is an approximately seven-mile rural unsurfaced highway which spans from Road 600 near Raymond west to Road 29. Road 607 west from Raymond Road Cemetery (established in 1905) is part of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road corridor surveyed in 1853. The corridor lies in the gap between Fresno Crossing at the Fresno River west to Newton's Crossing at the Chowchilla River. The Buchanan Copper Mine would be along what is now Road 607 in the namesake Buchanan Hollow during July 1863. The Buchanan Mine is thought to have once had a population of between 1,000-1,500 residents by the early 1870s. Copper prices would decline in the decade after the Civil War and much of the activity at Buchanan shifted towards cattle ranching. The last businesses in the community would shutter during World War II and it is now a true ghost town. Part 1; the history of Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road What is now Road 607 was a component of the larger Sto...

Old US Route 60/70 through Hell (Chuckwall Valley Road and Ragsdale Road)

Back in 2016 I explored some of the derelict roadways of the Sonoran Desert of Riverside County which were part of US Route 60/70; Chuckwalla Valley Road and Ragsdale Road. US 60 and US 70 were not part of the original run of US Routes in California. According to USends.com US 60 was extended into California by 1932. US 60 doesn't appear on the California State Highway Map until the 1934 edition. USends.com on US 60 endpoints 1934 State Highway Map Conversely US 70 was extended into California by 1934, it first appears on the 1936 State Highway Map. USends.com on US 70 endpoints 1936 State Highway Map When US 60 and US 70 were extended into California they both utilized what was Legislative Route Number 64 from the Arizona State Line west to Coachella Valley. LRN 64 was part of the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act routes. The original definition of LRN 64 routed between Mecca in Blythe and wasn't extended to the Arizona State Line until 1931 acc...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog