Friendship Bridge

No. 71

Built in 1962 as a pedestrian walkway at the Sheraton Wayfarer Inn in Bedford, the Goffe’s Mill Bridge was a 106-foot modified Pratt truss spanning Bowman Brook. When the Wayfarer Inn complex was slated for demolition in 2015, the Town of Wentworth worked with DuBois & King, Inc. and Stanley E. Graton of 3G Construction to save the bridge and move it 80 miles north.

The bridge was dismantled, transported to Wentworth, and stored while the town secured funding to remove the deteriorated steel Village Bridge and rebuild its abutments. M.E. Latulippe Construction completed the $304,500 substructure project, while Graton rebuilt the covered bridge, including its bottom chord, roof framing, siding, and decking. The bridge was placed over the Baker River in September 2016 and dedicated as the Friendship Covered Bridge on December 31, 2016.