The Covered Bridges of Oregon

In every healthy culture there are words and artifacts that are kept, or held over from the past. They are like mile stones that identify the distance that the changes in everyday life have made over time. Whether the held over words or artifacts as small as buttons or as large as buildings they are all archaisms. Small and medium sized objects can be stored and displayed in shadowboxes on the wall or in cases in museums. Larger objects such a buildings cannot be collected into one place but have to be visited.

First descriptions of covered bridges date from the 14th century. They are made of trusses, wooden beams, attached together to form triangles that have proved effective in supporting traffic over travel hazards including rivers and gullies. This effective support configuration is protected from weather by being covered with siding and a roof, thus providing the reason for the name of this distinctive bridge.

Oregon is blessed in that there are a number of preserved covered bridges within a short distance from I-5 between the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific Coast including the Coastal Range heights. The fact that these structures were needed and continued use much later in time has allowed them to exist until restoration and preservation groups could gather to ensure their continued maintenance.

I will construction of a histograph of several covered bridges along the I-5 through Oregon state and a short video of how the structures were built.

There are standards governing what a Covered Bridge is in the US.#standards

— Rosemary Nielson (@NielsonRosemary) April 5, 2016

More information can be found by going to the Covered Bridges in Oregon web site.

— Rosemary Nielson (@NielsonRosemary) April 5, 2016

Donations can be made to the National Society of the Preservation of Covered Bridges. #preservebridges

— Rosemary Nielson (@NielsonRosemary) April 5, 2016

An Oregon State group has a map of identified covered bridges along I-5.#Oregonbridge

— Rosemary Nielson (@NielsonRosemary) April 5, 2016

Many states have covered bridges identified in The National Society of the Preservation of Covered Bridges. #bridges

— Rosemary Nielson (@NielsonRosemary) April 5, 2016

The following two links are to my animated infographic introduction.

I could have gone with many other kinds of animation but decided to keep it simple. Any explanation other than a simple definition would have taken too much time. This topic could have more animation added especially in as a demonstration of construction. Now that this assignment is complete, many more ideas are presenting themselves.