Bridge plans?

[phalynx]

We are seriously considering a piece of property that has a creek that must be crossed to get to the building site.  Does any have, or know of where I can get, a bridge plan to cross about 10-20 feet?  I would hate to find out that it is way out of my reach to build..  thanks,

[Kevin]

I don't know of any plans other than dropping some big culverts and then fill on top,but in order to make any kind of crossing you have to get permits and a inspection along with county and state approval before building anything over the water.(anything that involes inspectors can be a nightmare)
Just a heads up
Kevin

[glenn kangiser]

Some make bridges with old railroad flatcars - possibly large trailers.

We used to make them from trees.  Depends ----right PEG? -- Bureaucrats and permits can change how things are done.

[PEG688]

  Depends ----right PEG? -- [highlight]Bureaucrats and permits can change how things are done.

[/highlight]

 Roger that, good luck if you need a permit, PEG

[Amanda_931]

There was an old Mother Earth News (all available on-line, I may go fish it out later) article on building all-wood bridges that sounded semi-feasible.  A fairly short bridge 15 feet I think was the project in the article.

I'm sorry to say that I bought more land to avoid dealing with a bridge--or even two.  One could probably have been done with a "tile" or culvert or three stacked, a fairly normal way around here  for both property owners and the county highway department to cross a stream.  They do eventually rust through on the top though.

I had a bunch of people telling me about old flat-bed trailers--e Bay or one of the salvage trailer places.  And they told me about how long they had lasted as bridges in their neighborhods.  I think it would have taken two, meeting in the center to have done the second gully on my land, and how to install the pair--both without crane access to the far side--would have been rather more than a nightmare.  And cost more than that extra 6 acres.

We also have things called "low water bridges"  They are not not not passable during high water, although that doesn't often last long around here--twenty-four hours would be a long time for most of them.   But sometimes they get loose and float downstream.

I had friends in Indiana who really did have to cross their stream 5 times to get to their house--that's why the rent was quite low!  They thought, oh we're going to need a 4-wheel drive vehicle.  A 68 International Harvester Scout bought new.  The one that the door hinge pins always rusted through.  Also the exhaust manifold (twice) don't remember what all else.  I kept getting stuck with my 1200cc Datsun/nissan truck because I'd never driven in snow ice or deepish water.  Their landlord was pretty good about fishing me out with his tractor.  But I screwed up the head because the frozen water would make the throttle cable stick--always wide open when the truck was cold.

But goodness knows just driving through the streams has been done.

[bartholomew]

I read that Mother Earth article online a few months ago, so you should be able to find it by poking around their site. The bridge discussed was built by dropping largish logs across the stream, and was supposedly capable of supporting a full cement mixer.

[Jimmy C.]

This may not work for what you have in mind. But it is a pretty cool web site for looking around.

http://pacifi.ca/index.html

[bartholomew]

Hey thanks for that link Jimmy. Those look pretty cool and not too difficult to make. I might just build one of those to get down a steep rocky slope. Clear spans sound a lot easier than using standard stairs/landings with multiple posts to anchor into the rock face.

[hunter63]

Check these out:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1994_Febuary_March/Tug_A_Log_Bridge

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1984_May_June/Homestead_Handbook__How_To_Build_a_Simple_Log_Bridge

[Amanda_931]

Thank you, Hunter.  I believe it's the 2nd one.

I was really tired last night.

I seem to remember that the rainbow bridge bridges are all foot/nothing bigger than a 4-wheeler sized.  Actually there's a garden tractor on one of the built ones, and ideas for highway-worthy 20+ foot jobs.

My guess is that some time along the line eBay has had a steel highway bridge for sale.  I kept hoping for one from some not-too-far-away county.  I may even have found one in a local surplus notice.   This was five years ago so maybe I didn't.

[Amanda_931]

Hey!

Following up my guess...eBay and bridges, I found these in the ads.

http://www.railcarbridge.com/

These guys do do bridges from rail cars.  The bridge prices look fairly reasonable to me--maybe not anybody else--8 feet wide around $400 a foot for the length.  Delivered if not installed.  Company's in Colorado.

And Cisterns from tank cars.  I could use one of those.

And for around, it looks like, 10-11k, they could find or sell you a [highlight][size=16]caboose for a cabin[/size][/highlight].  including at least some of the freight and crane rental.  They know where one is in Ohio.
..............

And if you're in Europe, Ministry of Defense and Swedish military surplus....

http://www.leavesley-international.com/default.asp?strParentGroup=BRIDGING

(and by the way, the first link that Hunter found in Mother Earth might have been very useful for me, trying to get a vehicle bridge across where there weren't any roads, on the other side of the gulch, I didn't find it at the time--if you lived in termite country could you char the logs that lay on the ground?.).

Need a Golf Course bridge--company in Texas-- http://www.buildingproductsplus.com/bridges.htm

Here's a "you can't afford it" (not to mention don't need to have a jetway overy your gully).  You might need something like the bridge to the Old Navy store, but two full lanes?



here's their URL: http://www.contech-cpi.com/products/applications.asp?id=2&src=overture

[firefox]

>Crazy Idea< You've been warned...

Get two 20 foot I beams of the correct size at a salvage metals place that deals with construction left overs.  Then get some train rail.

Weld the rail to the top of the flange.

Make a re enforced concrete pad on either side with appropriate footings, et al to support the two
I beams and provide for a ramp.

Make a platform from rail parts so that you have a platform that rolls from one side to the other
of the stream.

Rig up a winch cable set up to pull the platform from one end to the other using a remote control.

So now you drive up, summon the platform to your side, drive on to the platform, and get pulled to the other side.

Probably not that difficult to build if you can arc weld.

The benefits  Besides being novel, it could be done in such a way as to not be too intrusive on the
landscape. It is simple enough and if properly done , should last almost for ever. Just make sure that
the steel is properly painted with good quality pain system.

Bruce

[Kevin]

I had another idea you can drop a couple Tlel. poles and use the decking in the link.
Kevin

http://www.galleria-e.com/cgi-bin/Colemans.storefront/en/product/251601

[JRR]

I toyed with idea of using a stone arch to support a cantilevered porch on a current project.  (Finally opted for two simple stone columns with horizontal reinforced wooden beams, stiffened with angle bracing back into the columns.  This affair is 20' long, and some 10' high.  Sorry, no photo just yet.)

If you have a supply of fieldstone, you may consider the stone arch.  A drooping chain, supported across the distance, gives you a perfect (if upside-down) pattern of the underside surface.  A temporary wooden support must be built that is strong enough to support first runs of stones.  End anchorage for horizontal thrust is a major concern ... but lessens as the arch gets higher in design.  If the arch gets enough height, the horizontal thrust all but disappears.

The Romans perfected this simple scheme and had legions of warrior-builders building bridges thru-out the known world.

If you don't have a ready supply of slaves, this may be too labour intensive.

[Amanda_931]

That bridge decking sounds pretty nice.  Snow would just go on through it.

I was visiting friends and admiring all of their baby goats (they're sooooo cute and theirs at least are starting out well socialized--important because they are milk goats) when he mentioned that he might be contacting that railroad car bridge site.  It sounded wonderful.  He'd tried to get one by himself earlier, but found that shipping was going to be dreadful.  Those people included (at least most of the) transportation in the cost.

I would have gone with one or even two of those if I'd known about them at the time.  They can be almost 90 feet long. And carry a fully loaded concrete truck.  And at half the cost that I'd originally figured.

True, JRR, but building with stone is considered a proper avocation for overeducated non-bums.  (not sure it is for me, I'm squarely in the overeducated bum category)  

[glenn kangiser]

I think I may try more stone building - thinking about moving all the rocks is the hardest part - then moving them and building with them is only the hard part.

Barts link to dry rock wall building is good info for even mortared wall building.  It is in links under landscaping - if you check it out be sure to click the + marks in the online book for tons more info and illustrations.

Landscaping including Dry Stone Walling

[harry51]

Culverts seem to be the simplest and most cost-effective bridging method in our neighborhood. I installed one in a creek that runs a little bit most of the time and a lot occassionally in winter. I bought two joints (wanted a nice wide crossing) of galvanized 3' corrugated steel culvert and a connector at the steel yard about 40 miles away, and hauled them back on a car trailer behind my pickup. A couple of hours of labor (me) and backhoe time (hired) saw it installed, and it's been no problem since. Main thing is get it big enough, and be on the lookout during high water times for branches, etc., getting washed up against the inlet, leading to a blockage, which then leads to the stream cutting a new channel around the culvert. We rip-rapped around the ends of our culvert  with 6"+/- rock (large pile on the property from an old placer gold mining operation) to keep the water from washing the fill out from between the creek bank and the culvert sides.

The only permit needed came from the Dept. of Fish and Game, and as I recall, it wasn't more than $150 or so. It involved signing an agreement with DFG, and I wasn't comfortable with all the stipulations in it, so I called the warden. He said just cross 'em out, so I did, sent it back, and the permit came back in the mail.

[Amanda_931]

Steel (old ones are concrete) culverts--called here, "tiles" are the most common way of doing a bridge here as well.

But there's at least one rust hole in the one under the road down the hill.  Our highway department just covered the sinkhole up with asphalt patching, which kind of drips down through the hole.

And I have a vivid memory of some poor guy, after a major flood that washed over the top of the road to his house, standing on the abutment looking down at a rusted through area maybe six feet long.  I've no idea if he could leave home via back roads.   But I believe they replaced it with another galvanized steel culvert.  After all that was a "hundred year" flood.  (we've since had a worse one, but not as widespread).

Most everything I've ever read about building with stone says not to rely on mortar to correct your design/stone placement flaws.  Slip-formed concrete is an exception.  But that's not mortar.

[tjm73]

What about using old flat bed tractor trailer...trialers... The truck could pull it to the site where you could prep it for installation.  One wouldbe wide enough for a single lane bridge but you couldn't get a deliviery truck across it if need be (or an ambulance, firetrucks, etc...) so you could maybe do two side by side or build the deck surfacea foot or two wider on each side than the trailer deck width.

Those trailers can carry a lot of weight so I'm sure they could support a car or pickup across or small span.