The Gifford Covered Bridge, also called the C.K. Smith Covered Bridge, is a wooden covered bridge

Covered bridge

A covered bridge is a bridge with enclosed sides and a roof, often accommodating only a single lane of traffic. Most covered bridges are wooden; some newer ones are concrete or metal with glass sides...

 that crosses the Second Branch of the White River

White River (Vermont)

The White River is a river in the U.S. state of Vermont. It is a tributary of the Connecticut River.The White River rises at Skylight Pond south of Bread Loaf Mountain near the crest of the Green Mountains. The river flows east to the town of Granville, where it receives the outflow from the...

 in Randolph, Vermont

Randolph, Vermont

Randolph is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,853 at the 2000 census, making Randolph the largest town in Orange County. The town is a commercial center for many of the smaller, rural farming communities that surround it....

 on Hyde Road. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1974.

The bridge is of King post

King post

A king post is a central vertical supporting post used in architectural, bridge, or aircraft design applications.-Architecture:...

 truss design by an unknown builder. This bridge is one of only two covered bridges in Vermont (the other being the nearby Braley Covered Bridge

Braley Covered Bridge

The Braley Covered Bridge, also called the Johnson Covered Bridge and Upper Blaisdell Covered Bridge, is a wooden covered bridge that crosses the Second Branch of the White River in Randolph, Vermont on Braley Covered Bridge Road. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in...

) in which the king post truss reaches only half the height of the bridge. The reason for this is that the bridge was most likely a wooden boxed pony truss bridge when first built in 1904. The trusses would have most likely been covered by planking to protect them, rather being left open. See the article on Mean's Ford Bridge in Pennsylvania at BridgeHunter.com for an example of this rare type of bridge.

Recent history

Circa 1955 the bridge deck was reinforced with steel I beams above the roadway which are in turn tied to I beams below. This being an unusual way of strengthening a covered bridge. In 2001, extensive repairs were made to the bridge, including raising it up from the river to help prevent flood waters from reaching the deck. Despite the repairs, a relatively low weight limit of 3 tons remains on the bridge. There is evidence that the weight limit is forcing heavy vehicles to ford the shallow river next to the bridge.