To Build A Bridge

Back to my favorite activities after rambling about Drive. This is for younger, middle or older students who might be curious about a once popular way to build bridges. Again, I will provide some, hopefully, open-ended questions to get you started on a quest for more.

• Where was the first bridge of this type built in America? When?
• Era of covered bridges began around ___________________ and ended around ________________.
• Why would we build a bridge with a roof?
• What areas of the country built more of these than anywhere else? Why?
• Where can one visit the largest concentration of surviving "covered" bridges?
• What are the most common design styles? Which designs were best? Worst?
• What kind of wood was used? Was the wood consistent with the part of the country where the bridge was built?
• What happened to most of these bridges?
• Why don't we build covered bridges today? Think about all the bridges being repaired this summer around the U.S.
• What was the longest span ever accomplished with a covered bridge? Were piers used? I'll resist the temptation to go into the whole pier building process for now.
• Who financed the building of these bridges? Public? Private?
• How were the deck beams constructed? Best and worst designs? How thick was the lumber used for the deck?

Time to build a scale model and share your picture online?