This is from a friend in Sudbury who is an engineer on the Sudbury conservation board:
==== About 5 yrs ago, I happened on the subject of Sherman's bridge during an unrelated conversation with the Sudbury DPW director, not long before he retired. He said Wayland and Sudbury swap maintenance duty every year. He also said the state had some grant money available not long before I was speaking with him, where he had asked his Wayland counterpart to join together to replace the bridge with something preferable, but the Wayland DPW director wanted to bring the project before town meeting, which was infeasible time-wise. The project likely would have been a non-starter at town meeting anyway, since Waylanders along the road were unlikely to want to see more traffic, which I've heard is part of the reason the bridge is the way it is - when the bridge closed circa 1989, Wayland didn't want to rebuild it, but they relented with a bridge that would keep traffic and speeds down; I had not been aware of the historical aspects. So as bad as it is, it's probably better than no bridge, which could be emulated by never riding over that stretch of road. A somewhat similar bridge over the Assabet river in Stow near Honey Pot Hill Orchards is significantly better with bituminous blotches over the wood deck, where the assembly likely becomes a composite structure that dampens vibration and keeps much of the water out. The 'dead load' of the bituminous undoubtedly reduces the 'live load' capability of the bridge, which may be partly why Sherman's bridge hasn't been similarly treated, though I'm sure the historical commission also has a say in the matter. ==== Ken Hablow KH Graphics Tel: 781-257-5268 + <http://www.khgraphics.com/> www.khgraphics.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Website Development + Internet Marketing + Graphic Design
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