Captain Swift Covered Bridge is unique to covered bridges of the past thatwere designed for limited use of horse-and-buggy traffic and are unpractical today.
Captain Swift Covered Bridge has two lanes and built to modern highway standards. Made entirely out of wood, the Captain Swift bridge is the only two lane covered bridge in Illinois.
Captain Swift Covered Bridge has an outer skin of Douglas Fir, which will age to a lovely chocolate brown and the attractive natural color will make painting unnecessary, further reducing maintenance costs and the roof of the bridge itself will keep the structure dry and prevent wood rot.
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Design:
Burr arch (patented by Theodore Burr of New York in 1804).
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Dimensions:
Length of largest span:
Total length:
Deck width:
Vertical clearance above deck:
Inside of Bureau County Captain Swift Bridge
This is the view of the interior structure of the Captain Swift Bridge.
Burr Truss
One of the earliest and most prominent bridge builders in our country was Theodore Burr from Torringford, Connecticut. His career began in New York where he built a bridge spanning the Hudson River in 1804. Burr's truss design soon became one of the more frequently used sytems. The Burr arch truss, which the captain Swift Covered Bridge , uses two long arches, resting on the abutements on either end, that typically sandwiched a multiple kingpost structure.
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