While the Street View car drove both sides of the Saint John River, it unfortunately did not take the small side road which crosses the 391m Hartland Bridge. It was originally built in 1901, though it has suffered damage from ice and fire at various times. You can learn more at the town’s website.

The longest covered bridge in the United States is the Smolen-Gulf Bridge in Ohio, which measures 187m. While covered bridges are generally perceived as historical icons, this structure was only built in 2008, at a cost of almost $8million.¹

This time we do get a good look at the interior of the bridge.

There are many theories about why covered bridges became popular in North America starting in the 19th century. Some believe that they prevented herds of animals from being disturbed by the sight of rushing water or that they protected travellers during inclement weather (which surely wouldn’t be any worse over a river than the rest of the road?). However, the more likely explanation is that covering a bridge structure quite significantly extended the life of the wooded decking.

Because not every bridge can be the overall longest, tourist officials come up with a variety of other superlatives to try to draw attention to their local landmarks. For example, the 71m long bridge in Blenheim, New York, which is the world’s longest single-span covered bridge. It’s also notable for being one of only a few ‘double-barelled’ bridges – having a separate laneway for each direction of traffic.

Covered bridges are also found in many European countries, and they are often much older than those found in North America. The oldest is claimed to be the Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) in Lucerne, Switzerland, which was first built in 1333. Street View gets a very picturesque look at it from a nearby road bridge.

This isn’t entirely the original structure, much of which – including 17th century paintings which adorned the interior – was destroyed in a fire in 1993. The brick tower at the mid-way point has been used by the city for many purposes – its thick walls and defensible position making it ideal as a treasury and watchtower, though it was also a prison at some point in its history.

Additional entrants for ‘most picturesque’ covered bridge are the town of Bassano Del Grappa in Italy, and Chateau Chenonceau in France, which was one of the chateaux recently visited by the Street View trike.

Not all covered bridges cross waterways. In Oxford the Bridge of Sighs² connects two buildings in the famous university.

Returning to the US, the state of Pennsylvania claims the largest collection of covered bridges, having more than 200! Many of these are found on streets creatively called Covered Bridge Road (or Lane, or Avenue, etc). One example is the Dreibelbis bridge. With such a large number of similar addresses, you have to wonder if people’s mail is prone to going astray.

Many covered bridges around the US are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is encouraging that efforts are made to preserve them even when they are replaced by more modern road bridges. The McDermott Bridge in New Hampshire is one such example.

Covered bridges enjoyed a period of fame with the success of the book Bridges of Madison County, and the film of the same name. There are six bridges in Madison County, Iowa, though only one of them is visible on (a rather hazy) Street View, the Imes Bridge.

The satellite images allow us to see Cedar Bridge and Holliwell Bridge, both of which were used as filming locations for the movie.

As with so many of these historic wooden bridges, the original 1883 Cedar Bridge was destroyed by fire, though it has been rebuilt to the same design.

There are also many covered bridges in Asia, though we have yet to find any good images on Google maps. Please link to them in the comments if you know of any.

We’d also love to hear of your own personal favourite covered bridge, as there are many hundreds that we weren’t able to include in this post!

Locations: England, France, Iowa, Italy, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Switzerland / Categories: Bridges, Movie Locations, Street Views

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When PEI joined Canada in 1873, the federal government committed in its Constitution to providing ‘efficient steam service’ from the island to the mainland. For a number of years steamships provided service in the summer, while iceboats crossed the Abegweit Passage during the winter.

Over the years this evolved into a permanent ferry service between Cape Traverse, PEI and Cape Tormentine, NB.

Confederation Bridge from the New Brunswick shoreline

Discussions about a permanent fixed link took place numerous times from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, though proposals for a rock causeway were generally dismissed as being too hazardous to shipping, and impractical due to the extreme tides in the area.

In the 1980s the federal government agreed to construct a bridge if the island would agree to cease operation of its deficit-laden ferry and railway services.

Confederation Bridge from the PEI shoreline

This proposal created considerable angst on the island, with many residents fearful of environmental damage and destruction of their quiet island lifestyle. However, after a vote in 1988 the bridge received almost 60% approval, though it took another 5 years for construction to commence, along with a modification to the Canadian Constitution to affirm that the bridge could replace the ferry service.

The bridge’s components were made of high-grade concrete and steel in a construction facility at Amherst Head. Ice shields were required on all 62 of its piers to protect them from the complex tides and crushing ice which builds up in the winter.

The bridge curves in a slight S-shape, supposedly to keep drivers from losing focus on an elevated bridge with no landmarks to distract the vision. For the most part the deck is 40m above the water, though the central spans rise to 60m to allow the largest ship traffic to pass beneath.

Confederation Bridge was officially opened on May 31, 1997, with the ferries ceasing operation the same day. An estimated 75,000 people took the opportunity to walk across the bridge before it was opened to traffic – with pedestrians and cyclists now forced to take a shuttle service.

While traffic to PEI has increased, the bridge may have actually reduced long-term tourist stays due to the ease with which people can now visit just for a day. It has, however significantly increased food exports to the rest of Canada.

Learn more at the Bridge’s official site, which includes a webcam (requires Windows Media Player) and a photo gallery with good pictures of winter ice.

Thanks to Kris MacLellan, Pete, Alain Lamarre, Duncan, Daniel Pereira and James.

Locations: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island / Categories: Bridges, Street Views

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With all the other weirdness in Arizona, these symbols could only be alien communications, right? The reality is that they were created by Forest Service employees. While they were indeed thinking of how they looked from the air (do I see a face with a Picasso influence?), the intent was to improve water collection in this mostly dry pond known as Duck Lake.

Secondly, in central New Brunswick we find this network of varying zigzag lines:

I cannot come up with any explanation for this one. Aliens again? Some kind of scientific research?

Lastly, a triangular network of ponds in Maryland:

Occult practices? Yet more aliens?

If you have explanations for the last two, do let us know. And of course if you know of weird waterways in your part of the world, we’d love to see them!

Thanks to Sean McCabe, Bully, Bob and Troy Stanley.

Locations: Arizona, Maryland, New Brunswick / Categories: Weirdness

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Thanks: Becky Jewett

Locations: New Brunswick / Categories: Large Type

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