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River Road or School or Upper, Orleans County

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Inventory Number: VT/45-10-03
County: Orleans County
Township: Troy
Town/Village: North Troy
Bridge Name: River Road or School or Upper
Crosses: Missisquoi River
Truss type: Town
Spans: 1
Length: 93'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1910
Builder:
When Lost: 06 Feb 2021
Cause: Burned
Latitude: N44 57.382
Longitude: W072 23.608
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.1 miles east of jct VT101 on VT100, then 1.1 miles left on Big Falls Rd.

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Comments:
This bridge is referred to by three different names - River Road or School or Upper. Although it is close to River Road, it is actually on Veilleux Road. “School” probably refers to the River Road School which is shown just north of the intersection of River and Veilleux Roads on a 1920 map of the area. “Upper” was used to distinguish it from the Lower Bridge (VT/45-10-26x) downstream. The bridge design is unique among Vermont bridges in that the lattice has three chords per truss rather than the normal four, it is absent the upper intermediate chord. Also, the lattice members are pegged with one treenail rather than two. This single pin connection is also found in the pont de la Frontière (also known as Province Hill Bridge, QC/61-11-03) four miles to the north in Québec. A number of other single-pin Town truss bridges used to exist in this vicinity on both sides of the border. There are three 7" by 7" timber buttress braces along each side to provide lateral stabilization to compensate for the lack of knee braces inside the structure. On February 6, 2021 a snowmobile caught fire while crossing the bridge. The fire spread to the bridge’s timbers, weakening the structure and causing it to collapse. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 19, 1974.

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