Hartland Covered Bridge

National Historic Site Of Canada; The Longest Covered Bridge In The World At Roughly 390 Metres, Built 1901 Across The Saint John River And Covered In 1922 · Hartland, New Brunswick

At three hundred and ninety metres across the Saint John River, Hartland is the longest covered bridge in the world, and it is not a monument - it is a working one-lane road bridge that cars still queue to cross. It went up in 1901 with no roof at all, and the cover was added in 1922 after ice took out two spans, which is the whole logic of covered bridges: a roof keeps rain off the timber trusses and turns a structure that would rot in fifteen years into one that lasts a century. There was local opposition at the time, and it was not structural. Some residents objected that a long, dark, enclosed bridge would give courting couples ideas, which is exactly how covered bridges across North America came to be nicknamed kissing bridges. New Brunswick had around four hundred of them in the 1940s and has fewer than sixty now. This one is free, and you can walk it.

Hartland, Saint John River, Carleton County, Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada

FREE AND OPEN AT ALL HOURS - it is a public road bridge with no toll, no ticket and no gate, and the covered pedestrian walkway alongside the traffic lane is open year round. It is lit after dark. THE SEASONAL INFORMATION CENTRE on the Hartland side keeps summer daytime hours, roughly late May to early October, and provides restrooms and interpretation; outside that period the bridge is still fully walkable but facilities are closed. VEHICLE HEIGHT AND WEIGHT RESTRICTIONS APPLY and larger vehicles should park and walk. The walkway is slippery in wet and icy weather.

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