About
Josiah Hess Covered Bridge No. 122 crosses Huntington Creek in Fishing Creek Township, Columbia County, between Forks and Jonestown. It is a single span Burr arch truss bridge. Coveredbridges.net lists its span and total length as 110 ft, though its summary also gives 105.1 ft. The bridge is open to pedestrian traffic rather than vehicles.
History
Joseph Redline and W.J. Manning built the bridge in 1875 for $1,349.50. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1979. After a full restoration it was rededicated on August 25, 2005. The storm of June 28, 2006, which destroyed the nearby West Paden bridge, sent fast currents against the Hess site and severely damaged the south abutment; coveredbridges.net credits local contractor John Lapp's quick action with possibly preventing worse damage. Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 damaged the bridge's abutments again.
Design
The Burr arch truss pairs a long timber arch with a multiple kingpost truss. At Josiah Hess the arch and truss carry a single 110 ft span across the creek.
Visiting
The bridge is on Winding Road between Forks and Jonestown. It is closed to vehicles and open to people on foot.
Sources: Josiah Hess Covered Bridge (coveredbridges.net), Josiah Hess Covered Bridge (DiscoverNEPA), List of covered bridges in Columbia County (Wikipedia)
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