Smolen-Gulf Bridge: Longest Covered Bridge in the United States

Ashtabula County, Ohio, has more covered bridges than any county in the state, but the Smolen-Gulf Bridge is in a class of its own. At six hundred thirteen feet, it is the longest covered bridge in the United States, surpassing the old record holder that spans New Hampshire and Vermont when it opened in two thousand eight.

The bridge was the idea of John Smolen, the county engineer, who proposed spanning the Ashtabula River Gulf with a wooden structure back in nineteen ninety-five. Construction required six hundred thirteen thousand board feet of timber and nearly half a million pounds of steel reinforcement. The finished span stands ninety-three feet above the river below.

The county engineer designed it, and private contractors built it. With a design life of one hundred years, it is the newest covered bridge in the county and the longest in the nation.