A warning barrier that leads to the covered bridge in Lower Towamensing Township has been struck.

Contacted Friday, township board of Supervisors Chairman Brent Green said he believes the barrier was most likely struck by a truck.Currently, the barrier is in a driveway near the bridge, and has been down for several weeks, Green said."There are trucks entering it that shouldn't be driving over it," Green said. "It's only a 5-ton (weight limit) bridge."Carbon County Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said commissioners are aware of the situation."From what we see in the pictures and what the maintenance men are telling us, there was no damage to the bridge itself; however the one headache bar was knocked off, wood was split, and part of the metal was bent, but we are gonna have it repaired temporarily by the maintenance department, put 'em back up and turn 'em upside down so the split end is up," Nothstein said. "We're going to be doing that in the near future, probably hopefully early next week."Nothstein said a more permanent solution will eventually be in the works."We met with the county engineer this (Friday) morning regarding design of a new heavier steel-type panic bar or headache bar," he said. "We're hoping we'd be able to have something in place, another permanent something that will do more damage" to vehicles when drivers do not follow the rules.Nothstein said he hopes that will be in place sometime in June.In November, state and local officials gathered to mark the reopening of the bridge with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the bridge along Covered Bridge Road.At that time, Nothstein cautioned motorists who use the bridge to follow the regulations, as there are height restrictions in place.But in the past those have been ignored, as larger vehicles still attempted to cross the bridge, knocking down beams and damaging the decades-old structure.As a result, the bridge, formally known as bridge 17, has been the victim of numerous vehicle strikes over the past several years.Professional Construction Contractors Inc. of Bethlehem completed the bridge project at a cost of $291,126.The cost included replacing the open-grid steel deck, sandblasting and painting the bridge and was covered by Act 13 bridge improvement funds, along with Act 44 funds.