Originally built in 1907 to carry the Boston and Maine Railroad across the Sugar River, it now carries the multi-use Sugar River Trail, which was built on the abandoned right-of-way.

It is one of a modest number of historic covered bridges in New Hampshire, and is named for the fact that it has a central pier.

[2] The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

[1] The Pier bridge is located about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) east of the former Chandler railroad station in western Newport, crossing the Sugar River at an angle with a roughly east–west orientation.

It consists of two Town-Pratt lattice trusses, resting on granite abutments which have been capped by concrete, and a central pier of similar construction.