Carbon County has yet another headache to deal with after a taller vehicle struck the headache bar at the historic covered bridge in Lower Towamensing Township, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners ratified a quote from Structural Metal Fabricators Inc. of Palmerton to fabricate and install a new horizontal channel bar at one of the entrances to the covered bridge. The cost is expected to be $6,645 and will be covered by the county’s liquid fuels fund.

“Our headache bar is always getting hit at the bridge,” Commissioner Rocky Ahner said. “But it’s not the one that is always getting hit. It’s the one on the ski resort side. This is actually the first time that I know of that this side was hit, and they really hit it.”

The steel beam was hit around March 5, bending the metal and causing an issue with the height restriction bar that hangs from it.

Ahner said at that time that he wasn’t sure if the bridge would have to be closed until repairs were made, but that didn’t happen.

On Thursday, he said that he isn’t sure if more will need to be done on the posts that hold the bar up, noting that it was “some serious damage this time.”

The covered bridge is located in the Little Gap section of Lower Towamensing Township and has been the victim of numerous vehicle strikes over the years, with thousands of dollars in damage happening to the bridge before the county installed I-beams and headache bars to stop oversized vehicles from getting into the bridge.

Ahner thanked the crews at Lower Towamensing Township for helping to make repairs.

The county didn’t release the name of the company that struck the bridge, but said that a police report had been filed and that the county may look at getting the money spent back from the person responsible.

He noted that it remains an ongoing investigation at this time.

In other bridge matters, the county ratified a funding request be submitted to U.S. Congressman Ryan Mackenzie for the refurbishment of county bridge 19, located on Pohopoco Drive, crossing over Pine Run and Beltzville Lake. The county had requested $665,153.

In 2025, the county received $600,000 from the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Multimodal Transportation Fund grant program.

The commissioners said they are hoping to secure enough funding to be able to move forward on the rehabilitation project before the state puts it on its bridge work program for four or more years down the road.

“My goal would be to fast track the bridge there because the longer you wait, the next thing, instead of it being a million and a half dollars, it’s going to be $10 million — and we don’t want to run into that,” Ahner said.