On Wednesday, May 28 the West Windsor Selectboard passed an ordinance pertaining to vehicular damage to two wooden covered bridges in town. This act was created to “establish penalties for operating vehicles over covered wooden bridges in violation of posted limits,” according to the drafted ordinance submitted by former Windsor police chief Jennifer Frank in December 2024.
The ordinance establishes consequences for drivers who exceed the posted or dimensional limits of the covered bridges and outlines the fines associated with specific types of damages.
Mark Higgins, selectboard chair in West Windsor, told the Standard, “There are two covered bridges in our area that have seen a fair amount of vehicular damage, mostly from large moving trucks or delivery trucks. At a certain point, the selectboard became frustrated having to ask taxpayers to set aside money for us to use in repairs that could not be reimbursed by FEMA or other state-wide initiatives. It just felt unfair to the taxpayers in our community. Our goal with this ordinance was to come up with penalties so the town could cover the cost of the repairs. For a long time, we did not have a mechanism for seeking reimbursement from the party that committed the damages. This ordinance is our way of achieving recovery from the guilty party, hopefully from their insurance company.”
This ordinance stipulates that “Any operator of a motor vehicle, as defined in Title 23 of the Vermont Statutes, who operates a vehicle that exceeds the weight, height, or other dimensional limits posted for the covered wooden bridge, or who causes damages to said bridge as a result of such operation, shall be found guilty of violation and subjected to a fine of $500,” according to Frank’s drafted ordinance.
For more on this, please see our June 5 edition of the Vermont Standard.
