Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Covered bridge expert Phil Pierce is optimistic about repairing Weddle Bridge before the Oregon Jamboree in early August.
“I think I can establish a list of priorities so you can have the bridge useable by Jamboree,” Pierce told the Weddle Bridge technical committee on Friday.
Pierce, an engineer from New York State who has expertise in covered bridges — a rarity among engineers — agreed to travel to Sweet Home, take a look at the Weddle Bridge and provide a second opinion after city officials were dissatisfied with a previous engineering report on the bridge.
The report laid out an expensive program that did not allow for phasing of repairs or donated labor and materials, something Community Development Director Carol Lewis said was not really Sweet Home’s style.
Rather, the Sweet Home community has stepped up and offered materials and time to help repair the bridge over the last year, and the city’s goal in bringing Pierce to look at the bridge was to get an idea how to phase the project and complete it using donated time and materials as much as possible, something much more Sweet Home’s style.
The bridge is not in bad condition, Pierce said. It has problems, including the upper chord on the west side of the bridge and the tie beam on the south end. It also has problems with timbers underneath the bridge, but all of it is most likely manageable, he said.
The community has already taken important steps in preserving the bridge, including painting it in the past and replacing the roof this year.
The original roof wasn’t good enough, Pierce said. The bridge has a good one now, and he stressed “thou shalt put a good roof on the covered bridges.”
The bridge is in “good shape with problems,” Pierce said.
Engineers tend to be conservative, and “most engineers don’t have a lot of training in (covered bridges),” Pierce explained. Engineers are charged with making sure structures are safe, and they base their recommendations on what they know.
“I know all modern specifications aren’t applicable,” Pierce said. “And I’m willing to put … my stamp on it. In my humble opinion, I think that we can do some engineering that will lead to some constructive guidance that will restore the structural capacity to this bridge to allow you, the community, to enjoy it for a long time to come.”
Ben Dahlenburg, who led the reconstruction of the bridge and hosted Pierce for the weekend, showed Pierce around Sweet Home, including other things the community has done through its volunteer force.
“I am just astounded by this community,” Pierce said. “Unless I’m underestimating what’s going on here,” volunteer labor and materials can restore this bridge successfully.
“I hear the number given to you by others, and I don’t believe it,” Pierce said of previous repair estimates. “I don’t think this bridge is in that bad condition.”
Two Oregon Department of Transportation officials were at the meeting at the bridge on Friday, and they explained that Sweet Home may be able to access grant funds by getting the bridge designated as eligible for the national historic register.
Lewis has been trying to find grants to help repair the bridge but has had trouble, she said, because the bridge is not listed in the historic register. It cannot be because it was moved from its original watershed.
Getting designated as eligible is much easier than getting the actual listing, and it can help with accessing grants, Alex McMurry of ODOT said.
“I guess what we’re saying is it’s worth a try,” Chris Leedham of ODOT said.
The city invited Pierce to look at the bridge after Lewis heard him speak at a seminar on covered bridges. When the city realized last fall that the bridge had some serious problems,
Lewis contacted Pierce and, after an exchange of e-mails, “in a moment of weakness,” Pierce said he’d be willing to come out and take a look at the bridge if someone could provide him with an airline ticket, he said. The Oregon Jamboree and Spoleto’s paid for Pierce’s plane ticket.
Pierce also attended a community potluck at the bridge on Sunday. There, he answered questions and talked with members of the public and volunteers who have helped in the effort to save Weddle Bridge.
“I think relatively little needs to be done that I would consider serious,” he told approximately 100 people who gathered at the potluck. “Weddle Bridge was dismantled in the 1980s. It originally spanned Thomas Creek near Scio. Volunteers reassembled the bridge over Ames Creek in Sankey Park in 1991.
The city closed the bridge to the public last fall after an engineering report showed that it was structurally unsafe.
For more information or to help, call 367-8113.