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The NYSCBS has calendars left for 2012. We will sell them at cost of $7.00. If you need them shipped the cost is $3 for 1 or $5 for up to 3 calendars. Let me know if you need them quickly and I will see what I can do. Money from the sales of these calendars are going to help in the Halls Mills CB work. Thanks so much and a Merry Christmas to all of you. Donna Freeland 360 Howells Rd Middletown, NY 10940 845-386-8132

The Covered Bridges App was just approved in the App Store!
As a covered bridge lover, I have created an app that has all the capabilities I need. However, I know workflows and usage varies. For that reason I want to get this app into other bridge lovers hands for some feedback.

If you have an iOS device and would like a free copy, let me know, and I will send you a promo code so you can review it free! roberthuttinger@gmail.com

Here is a link to the Apple Store: http://bit.ly/vdNnri
I would welcome any advice on the functionality, problems, or usability.
Happy Bridge Hunting!

Arlington covered bridge likely to remain closed for months
ZEKE WRIGHT
Posted: 09/16/2011 11:10:47 PM EDT

WEST ARLINGTON -- A storm-damaged covered bridge in West Arlington may remain closed for months to come. Fortunately for aficionados, its repairable damage is the worst reported with respect to covered bridges in the local region.
"Everyone is very concerned with the covered bridge," said Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington. "And the good news is its totally fixable and it will get fixed. The not-so-good news is that it may take a while."
Browning, also an Arlington Select Board member, said that the Select Board is expected to come to some decision at its meeting Monday with regard to repairing the West Arlington Covered Bridge, as well as the adjacent Benedict Crossing Bridge, which was also damaged.
But due to a backlog of repairs statewide, Browning said that it may take up to six months, next spring, before repairs are made and the West Arlington Bridge, built in 1852, is reopened to traffic.
Damage to Vermont’s covered bridges was well-documented Aug. 28, courtesy of 21st century technology. Video of the Bartonsville Covered Bridge in Rockingham was recorded as flood waters dramatically swept it off its supports and down the Williams River.
Footage was similarly captured as an uprooted tree rushed along the Battenkill and under the West Arlington Bridge, shaking the crossing as it passed beneath and damaging a downstream cross-member.
An uprooted tree damaged the bridge, causing the downstream support member to bow out, disconnecting it from the bridge’s cross-supports. Browning said that the repair was not complicated but that it would take a specialized contractor, specialized parts, and the expertise to do the job. Browning and Select Board Chairman Keith Squires conducted a site visit of the two bridges with Brett Wright of Wright Construction Company in the days following the storm.
One of the issues may be that the company has a number of covered bridges, some of them may be the only way in and out, and at least on River Road and Arlington we have other bridges that are open. So we may not be first in line," Browning said Friday. "People have to understand they can’t just come right away, because they have to prioritize."
The Benedict Crossing Bridge, an open truss design, had some supportive trusses damaged which could take a month to fix. Two remaining bridges on either side continue to link River Road with Route 313.
In Sunderland, the 1870 Chiselville Covered Bridge remained high enough aloft to avoid damage, but town officials are now dealing with removing debris hung up on the central pillar support.
Select Board Chairman Steve Bendix said that the bridge appeared very safe and unharmed but that the concern now was removing the debris before winter, without causing damage to the support.
"We have to get the debris removed so there’s no more pressure ... and no undermining," he said.
Debris has been removed from beneath another Sunderland bridge, on Kelly Stand Road, but the amount of material at the Chiselville Bridge will require a contractor and crane, according to Bendix. He said that the town would likely have to foot the bill for removing debris as there did not appear to be aid available for that purpose.
A representative at the Vermont Covered Bridge Museum at the Bennington Center for the Arts said that they had received many inquiries regarding how area covered bridges fared.
Vermont lost two of its covered bridges: the Bartonsville Bridge and the Giorgetti Bridge in Pittsfield. Twelve additional covered bridges were reported damaged. Across the Northeast a total of four covered bridges were reported destroyed and 21 damaged.
One traditional design element of the covered bridge, Browning said, helped allay damage to most of the region’s most picturesque crossings. "The way they designed those old covered bridges is they actually kept the approach roads low ... so in a flood the current of the river would rise up and go around the bridge," she said. "So that’s what it did. The structure and design system of the bridge worked as it should."
"They were built for very practical purposes," Browning continued. "They do symbolize a real combination of functionality and elegance that is very satisfying."