Covered Bridge Officially Open
by Ben Hogwood

CAMBRIDGE - U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords officially opened the Cambridge
Junction Covered Bridge on Monday, September 20.
"This is a great event for me, because it was you who asked me to do
something about this," he told an audience surrounding the Route 15
entrance, "and it started a national program" to protect and repair
covered bridges around the country, he replied. Jeffords secured $1
million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to rehabilitate the
bridge. He added that once everyone realized how politically popular
covered bridges were, everybody began jumping on the band wagon.
Richard Westman, representative for Cambridge, said the bridge was
"suffering and in trouble" and it would have been devastating to have
lost it. "The work you have done has been an inspiration to all of us,"
he said to Jeffords. "I appreciate it, we all do."
While the bridge was opened for traffic on July 4 with another
celebration, Jeffords could not attend that day. Bill McKone, of the
Cambridge Historical Society, said this was a follow up of the previous
occasion.
Plans were also unveiled for the design of a park which will surround
the site. The park, which will be named after Jeffords, will be designed
as a waiting area at a train station. The area was once a transportation
hub, said Zeke Zucker, co- head of the Greenways Committee, who unveiled
the plan. He added that with the railtrail coming through the location,
it will again grow prominent.
McKone hopes people will be gentle with this bridge and observe the
height and weight restrictions. "These were built to carry a horse and
wagon," he said. "These are restorations of a bygone era."