South Perkasie Covered Bridge Rehabilitation

October 2025

Perkasie Borough Awards Bids for South Perkasie Covered Bridge Repairs

The repairs to Perkasie’s historical 1832 covered bridge have passed an important milestone as the Borough has selected the firms that will rehabilitate the bridge’s timber structure and abutments that were damaged by Hurricane Ida.

On September 22, 2025 contracts approved by Perkasie Borough Council were awarded to Eastern Highway Specialists Inc. of Wilmington, DE, for the timber structure and T. Schiefer Contractors, Inc. for the abutments. The awards are contingent upon Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) obligating final adjusted funds for the project. The contractors were selected in a competitive bidding process.

In recent years, Eastern Highway Specialists of Wilmington, DE, restored the Rapps Dam Covered Bridge, the Knox Covered Bridge in Valley Forge National Historic Park, and the Speakman's Covered Bridge in Chester County, and the Ashland Covered Bridge in Delaware. T. Schiefer Contractors, Inc. is a family-owned and operated construction business in Doylestown, PA.

This year, Perkasie Borough applied for a project change with FEMA to move the covered bridge about 50 feet away from its current location, taking the bridge from the FEMA regulatory floodway. The covered bridge also will be elevated by several feet and secured by tie-down fixtures. The location change came after Perkasie Borough’s architectural and engineering consultant for the project, Wood Research & Development of Jefferson, OR, completed inspection reports and design plans, and the Borough’s engineers, Gilmore & Associates, Inc., evaluated FEMA flood maps for the bridge’s current location.

Once FEMA completes the adjusted obligation process based on the proposed location change, construction is expected to begin in early Spring 2026.

The South Perkasie Covered Bridge rehabilitation project began in 2019 when the Perkasie Historical Society, Bucks County Covered Bridge Society and Perkasie Borough raised funds to repair a known issue with the bridge. The Borough also received a Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office grant for the project.

However, Hurricane Ida’s remnants swept the bridge off its abutments in September 2021, and FEMA designated Perkasie Borough as a recipient of FEMA and PEMA funds to return the bridge to its condition before the flood. The project’s costs will be covered by funds from FEMA, PEMA, the Pennsylvania State Historic Office, and donations to the Perkasie Historical Society, as well as the society’s funds.

The South Perkasie Covered Bridge is the oldest covered bridge in Bucks County and the seventh-oldest covered bridge in America. It was built in 1832 and moved by Perkasie’s citizens in 1958 to save it from demolition by Bucks County. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and it is a rare example of an early covered bridge using the original Town Lattice truss system.

March, 2025

The South Perkasie Covered Bridge is Perkasie’s “town symbol” and an important part of our region’s history. This summer, the long-awaited project to open the bridge to the public is set to begin. 

Some people may not know our town bridge is the oldest covered bridge in Bucks County, the third-oldest covered bridge in Pennsylvania, and the seventh-oldest covered bridge in the United States. And in 1958, it was saved for generations to enjoy by the Perkasie Historical Society.

 In late 2019 and early 2020, Perkasie Borough and the Perkasie Historical Society raised more than $200,000 in grants and donations to make repairs to the bridge. However, Hurricane Ida in September 2021 caused damage across Perkasie Borough’s park system, moving the bridge 10 feet and destroying its abutments system.

 In 2024, Perkasie Borough completed the review and grant process with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), and the state of Pennsylvania, to fund the rest of the repairs to the covered bridge. Engineering work started in October 2024 when Wood Research & Development of Jefferson, Oregon began the bridge’s rehabilitation plan. The plan was completed in May 2025, allowing for construction bids to be advertised.  

In May 2025, Perkasie Borough identified some changes to the original project scope and is working through these with FEMA and PEMA: 

• Perkasie Borough intends to move the covered bridge to a location further away from the creek, to help mitigate against future storm and flood damage; 
• The rehabilitation plan has identified areas in the FEMA Public Assistance Scope of Cost plan that omitted several sections of the covered bridge damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. Perkasie Borough has written to FEMA and PEMA with change requests to allow the replacement  or repair-in-kind of the lower diagonal bracing under the covered bridge’s deck, of the covered bridge’s four lower corners, and of the knee braces, cross ties, and upper diagonal bracing that support the bridge’s roof.

Based on FEMA’s response to these change requests, Perkasie will submit a revised production schedule to accommodate the bridge’s move and the additional time for repairs for the omitted timber sections, which will likely include a project extension request.

For those of you interested in following the covered bridge project, we have several key documents below on this page. Please note that these are all still working documents and are subject to change as the Borough works through the design and bidding process.  One of the major goals is to perform a historic rehabilitation of the existing bridge, salvaging, repairing and reusing the existing components to the maximum extent possible. Perkasie Borough recently received a detailed inspection report, an analysis of storm damage, and preliminary design drawings for the timber structure.

More information about the history of Perkasie Borough’s Covered Bridge can be found on the website of the Perkasie Historical Society. Questions about the Rehabilitation project should be directed to admin@perkasieborough.org