About
Krickbaum Covered Bridge (also spelled Kreigbaum) carries All Saints Road over South Branch Roaring Creek east of Elysburg, on the line between Cleveland Township in Columbia County and Ralpho Township in Northumberland County. It is a single-span queenpost truss bridge about 62 feet long, built in 1876, and it is open to vehicle traffic.
History
George W. Keefer built the bridge in 1876 on the road leading from Bear Gap to Catawissa Road, according to the National Register nomination. The name comes from William Krickbaum, whose grist mill once stood near the site. Columbia and Northumberland counties jointly own and maintain the bridge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 8, 1979, as part of the Covered Bridges of Northumberland County thematic resource.
Design
The nomination describes the queenpost truss as a kingpost design with an extra longitudinal top chord, which lets two vertical posts carry the load instead of one. It records a total length of 62 feet 1 inch, a roadway width of 13 feet 8 inches and a vertical clearance of 11 feet 9 inches. Dale J. Travis lists the length as 68 feet.
Visiting
Travis directs visitors southeast on PA 54 from its junction with PA 487 south of Elysburg, then east on All Saints Road about 0.7 miles to the bridge. coveredbridges.net, with photos from September 2021, reports that it is open to vehicle traffic. The 1979 nomination recorded a 3 ton load rating.
Sources: Covered Bridges of Northumberland County, NRHP nomination, Krickbaum Covered Bridge, coveredbridges.net, Krickbaum, Dale J. Travis
Photo: Ruhrfisch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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