Bridges & Culverts

Research and stewardship of New Hampshire’s historic bridges and culverts.

People have been constructing bridge structures in New Hampshire for centuries. They’ve been built to carry roads and railroads over and under other roads and railroads, and of course waterways. The geography, topography, and post-contact settlement patterns in the New England region resulted in a particularly early and prolific endeavor in bridge building that continues to this day.

DHR and NHDOT hold an extensive collection of informative inventory material about 1000s of historic bridges in New Hampshire. In partnership with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DHR and NHDOT and its consultant completed a geographic information system (GIS)-based Historic Bridge Inventory in 2021.

Benefitting from federal and state financial assistance, bridge and culvert projects often involve a range of regulatory requirements that contribute to our understanding of bridge building, maintenance, and community impacts, as well as appreciation of engineering history. Local and advocational advocacy for historic bridges also provide essential support for these structures.  Public outreach materials to mitigate for the loss of historic bridges include signage, videos, and booklets. Statewide and nationwide efforts to inventory and manage historic bridges also support efforts to safely keep historically significant bridges operational longer.

Although engineering principles used in the design of bridges and culverts are the same, there are common differences between the two. However, current classification systems define a culvert simply as a short-span structure. In New Hampshire that’s a structure less than 10 feet.

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