Some covered bridges in Lancaster County are going to take on a new look.

Well, not a new look, but one from a different time in their histories.

Six of seven county-owned covered bridges slated to get new roofs this year will trade their cedar-shingle roofs for metal tops.

Historically, the metal roofs are acceptable because the bridges likely had them at some point.

"As early as the 1930s, some of them probably had tin roofs for a time," said Fred Moll, historian for the Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of Pennsylvania. "Ideally, I'd prefer to see them with cedar shakes, because that's what they would have had when they were built, but the most important thing is to have the bridges preserved."

According to its website, the Theodore Burr society promotes "the preservation and restoration of the remaining historical covered bridges in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through educational programs for the members, as well as for the public at large, for the interest and enjoyment of all, as well as succeeding generations."

Lancaster County commissioners today are expected to award two contracts totaling $232,365 to Green World Contracting Corp. of Pittsburgh to paint and put new roofs on seven covered bridges and to just paint six others.

Covered bridges that will be painted and have the roof replaced are on:

• Siegrist Road over Big Chiques Creek, Rapho-West Hempfield township line.

• Cocalico Creek Road over Cocalico Creek, East Cocalico Township.

• Kiwanis Road over Mill Creek in Lancaster County Central Park, West Lampeter Township.

• Penn Grant Road over Pequea Creek, West Lampeter-Strasburg township line.

• Brenneman Road over Pequea Creek, Strasburg-West Lampeter township line.

• Covered Bridge Road over Pequea Creek, Martic-Pequea township line.

• Academy Road over West Branch Octoraro Creek, Colerain-Little Britain township line.

Only the bridge on Kiwanis Road will have a new cedar-shingle roof put on it. The rest will have metal roofs.

Covered bridges that will be painted are on:

• Erisman Road over Big Chiques Creek, Rapho-East Hempfield township line.

• Bailey's Crossroads Road over East Branch Octoraro Creek, Sadsbury Township.

• Weaverland Road over Conestoga River, Caernarvon Township.

• Erbs Bridge Road over Hammer Creek, Ephrata-Warwick township line.

• Shreiner Station Road over Little Conestoga Creek, Manheim-East Hempfield township line.

• Mount Pleasant Road over West Branch Octoraro Creek, Bart Township.

Work is expected to begin later this month and be completed by the end of the year.

The covered bridge carrying Log Cabin Road over Cocalico Creek on the West Earl/Warwick township line was the first here to receive a modern metal roof. It was rehabilitated in 2009.

Bob Navitski, an engineer with the firm Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, which designed the covered bridge repairs planned for this year, has said metal roofs last longer and protect the bridges better than cedar shingles, which are prone to rotting.

Commissioner Craig Lehman said he researched the historical impact of placing metal roofs on covered bridges when the Log Cabin Road bridge was rehabilitated.

He discovered they are considered acceptable by several historic preservation groups, including the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

"A metal roof is considered historically authentic as it relates to covered bridges," Lehman said.

Last year the bridge that carries Middle Creek Road over Cocalico Creek in Ephrata Township became the second county-owned covered bridge fitted with a metal roof.

Navitski said his firm decided the Kiwanis Road bridge should receive a cedar-shingle roof because it is in an open area, with no tree canopy shading it. In such a setting, he said, the roof is less likely to rot.

Also, the county has a supply of cedar shingles left over from previous bridge projects that can be used on the Kiwanis Road structure, thereby saving money on materials.

As other covered bridges are rehabilitated going forward, the commissioners said, decisions will be made on each structure to determine if it should receive a metal or cedar-shingle roof.
preilly@lnpnews.com