A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof and siding which, in most covered bridges, create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges have a life span of only 10 to 15 years because of the effects of rain and sun.
Bridges having covers for reasons other than protecting wood trusses, such are for protecting pedestrians, are also sometimes called covered bridges.
Read more about Covered Bridge: History and Development, Examples of Covered Bridges, Other Covered Bridges, Covered Bridges in Fiction, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words covered and/or bridge:
“Every act of the man inscribes itself in the memories of his fellows, and in his own manners and face. The air is full of sounds; the sky, of tokens; the ground is all memoranda and signatures; and every object covered over with hints, which speak to the intelligent.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What need the bridge much broader than the flood?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)