Maitland works to rebuild fallen covered bridge

Four months after a truck towing a too-tall trailer brought Maitland’s lone covered bridge down to the ground in a pile of wooden rubble, the city is setting the rebuilding process in motion.

The Maitland City Council approved a motion Feb. 10 allowing CPH Inc. to begin engineering and design services to help draft plans to get the bridge off the ground.

“The residents had clearly indicated that they wanted to see it back in place,” Public Works Director Rick Lemke said. “And even in more than just aesthetically, it served a function to restricting traffic in the neighborhood behind there.”

The old bridge had stood guard on Old Horatio Avenue at the entrance to Trotter Drive Lake Nina-fronted neighborhood for 25 years, keeping large trucks and trailers at bay.

Assistant City Manager Sharon Anselmo said the insurance held by the man who struck the bridge with his trailer last October will partially cover its reconstruction costs, with the remainder of the estimated $100,000 price tag covered by the city’s insurance.

Not covered by insurance, will be upgrades installed at the city’s will to make the bridge less likely to face the same crashing fate twice. Those include additional warning signage of the low clearing, and a sacrificial structure that would fall first if hit to warn drivers to stop.

“It’s a warning, it’s essentially basically if you hit this, it says ‘Hey dummy, slow down and stop,’” Lemke said.