Simpson Creek Covered Bridge, Bridgeport West Virginia

Date added: December 11, 2022 Categories: West Virginia Bridges Covered Bridges

Simpson Creek Covered Bridge, also known as the W.T. Law Covered Bridge, near Bridgeport West Virginia was built in 1881.

Thomas S. Spates, appointed by the Harrison County Court as a commissioner to examine a site, prepare specifications, and receive bids for the construction of a bridge across Simpson Creek near Shinns Mills, made a report to the court on September 9, 1881, concerning his progress. After he informed the court that Asa S. Hugill submitted the lowest bid, ($700.00 for the woodwork and $4.00/perch for the wing walls and abutments), the court awarded Mr. Hugill the contract. The same day, the court-appointed Thomas S. Spates to superintend the construction of the bridge, and ordered that John Lowe be awarded $40.00 for land taken for right-of-way.

On December 6, 1881, following Spates' report to the court that Hugill had built the bridge according to the plans and specifications, the court ordered that Hugill be paid a total of $1483.00, $442.00 of which was to be given to John Lowe. Spates was paid $30.00 for his services as a commissioner.

A flood washed out the bridge in July 1999. The bridge was brought back upstream and reconstructed at its present location, which is approximately one-half mile below its original site.

The W. T. Law Covered Bridge is one of the three remaining Sayeed bridges in Harrison County, and the only covered bridge in West Virginia that has multiple kingpost trusses with diagonals absent in the center panels. As a rule of thumb, wooden arches were constructed on bridges which were to have spans approaching 80 feet. to avoid excessive deflections. The W. T. Law bridge is significant in that it comes close to the 80 foot span length and does not have stiffening wooden arches.

Bridge Description

The W. T. Law Covered Bridge is 14 feet 3 inches wide and 75.2 feet in length. It has red board-and-batten siding and a corrugated metal roof. The trusses, which are of the multiple kingpost type, have nine panels, measuring 11.9 feet in height. All panels are approximately 8 feet-4 inches long. The 7 x 8-inch diagonals fit flush against the top and bottom chords, which are comprised of two 6 x 8 inch and two 6 x 9½ inch members respectively, and into small three-sided notches made in the 7 x 10-inch verticals. The center panel of the bridge has no diagonal bracing, which was a common mode of design for timber bridges of the multiple kingpost type that had an odd number of panels. Because the center panel is unbraced, it must resist loading through the bending of the cords, relying on their continuity (i.e. the top and bottom chords are continuous and therefore do not act as members of a pin-connected truss) for stability. The joggle splice pieces, which splice the components of the bottom chord together are noteworthy.

The bridge still functions with no evidence of modern reinforcement.