lanc eats truck

Truck wedged into Mount Orne Bridge Photo from Pamela Maza Thurber, P.E. VTrans, June 6, 2006

Mount Orne Bridge. 29-05-08 Photo by Joe Nelson, August, 1995

Joe: This accident happened June 6 on the Lancaster NH – Lunenburg VT CB. The truck is located on the NH side of the crossing – it took the NH portal boarding with it. Looks something like the Depot CB crash all over again.- John Weaver

The World Guide to Covered Bridges, published by the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, Lists the bridge as 29-04-08 (NH) and 45-05-03 (VT). The bridge spans the Connecticut River at Lancaster on NH Route 135 connecting to Lunenburg, Vermont.

The Mount Orne Bridge, or Lunenburg-to-Lancaster Bridge, stands just south of a bend in the river. On the Vermont side, the bridge is located on East Concord Road, about one mile south of where that road leaves Route 2. The junction is approximately twenty miles east of the I-93 clover or 1.5 miles east of Lunenburg were Route 2 bends north.

The 267 -foot Mount Orne Bridge was built in 1911 by Charles Babbitt using the Howe truss. Mr. Babbitt built the Columbia Bridge at Lemington the following year using the same truss. The longer Mount Orne Bridge uses a mid-stream pier.

June 9, 2006 - John, Joe,I read the article on the MT Orne bridge and thought you might be interested in our experiences with the bridge.
    We looked at the bridge last summer for the Town’s insurance company after a truck hit it on May 9, 2005. It was very similar to this latest incident where a truck damaged the NH portal framing.
    I looked at the bridge again about two months ago and the repairs to the portal looked very good. I’ve included a few photos from 2005 to show the damage we found; See the photos below.
    As an aside, the truck shown in the picture looks like it may weigh more than 6 tons (a lot more). According to the secretary at Town Hall the bridge is currently closed.

Sean James, P.E.
Project Manager
Hoyle, Tanner & Associates, Inc.
Manchester, NH 03101

A view of the NH portal (what remains of it) and posting	Portal damage (NHDOT Bridge Maintenance had removed most of the loose portal framing)

Interior of the bridge	A view of the VT portal & posting signs

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