‘Unwise’ Drivers Keep Smashing Into Vermont’s Covered Bridges

With expenses mounting the week, law enforcement officials want motorists to pump the brakes.

One of the many charms of travel in Northern New England are covered bridges. However, carelessness by drivers have been causing major damage to quite a few of them. Law enforcement and public works have has enough.

According to NECN, there are more than a few covered bridges under costly repair.

Randall Hoyt, a post and beam contractor says people aren't slowing down, and said in the NECN article, “They need to pay attention to the signs, and they need to slow down as they come into covered bridges. "

Currently, he is working on a damaged bridge built in 1845.

Last week, according to Vermont State Police, a New York driver in a commercial truck too tall and too heavy for the bridge was also going too fast when he crashed into it. Another bridge in Lincoln is shut down after a truck ran into it. Cost to repair is over $350,000.

Woodstock Police Chief Robbie Blish says a lot of these crashes are preventable, according to NECN, "We take pride in the bridges, and we try to maintain them, and part of that maintenance is making sure people don’t do unwise things."