Vermont covered bridge damaged again by large vehicle

LYNDON, Vt. (AP) — A covered bridge in the Vermont town of Lyndon has been hit and damaged again by a vehicle that was too large to pass through the structure.

A van being carried on a flat-bed trailer hit the roof structure boards of the Millers Bridge on Monday afternoon, the Caledonian Record reported. Three boards broke off and fell to the ground. The driver immediately stopped and backed the truck out of the bridge before causing more damage, the newspaper reported.

The contact was again captured on video by a nearby resident. The driver got out of the truck, removed the boards from the road and stayed at the scene, the video shows. The driver was there when the police chief drove to the bridge while returning home.

The town and police chief have used the resident’s video to help find drivers of vehicles that have hit and damaged the bridge and then driven away. Height warning signs at the bridge have been upgraded over years, including with the installation of blinking lights, to get drivers’ attention, but the crashes continue to happen. A box truck damaged the bridge in August. Many attribute the collisions to drivers following GPS directions and not paying attention to the signs.