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Rowjr
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2015 07:08am
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Thought I would start a new topic maybe has anyone built a bridge on there property for anything like 4 wheeler path or just a walking path. Etc. Been thinking about making a couple for easier access for my 4 wheeler or just on my feet.
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littlehouseontheprarie
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2015 08:02am
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I need to go take pics of an awesome bridge that my buddy
built over a creek.
He used the support beams from an old 16 x 80 mobile home.
And then used 2x12's over it.He uses is for his 4 wheeler.
I can get pics Sunday and post.It is well built.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2015 08:29am
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I knew a guy who had built a bridge by cutting down two or three large Doug Fir trees and using them along with wood he cut from other logs for the top surface. It lasted about ten years. So then he considered getting a railroad flat car so he wouldn't have to replace it in another ten years. But he decided that it would cost him far less to just replace it every ten years with wood, since he had plenty of trees and railroad cars are not cheap, or cheap to move. I kind of lean toward the more permanent solution, that is, when I can afford it.
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2015 08:43am - Edited by: turkeyhunter
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I built several over the years on hunting leases we had and farms I hunted.
Get used power poles or telephone poles. I paid a $1 a foot for the poles.
Dig out a trench to get them flush to the ground on each side. Of creek or ditch ( top of bank). I went to the saw mill got 2" x 10" planks ~~these are full thickness WHITE OAK planks....predrilled my holes through the planks and drove long/spikes into poles. And you have a bridge. 
3 to 4 poles to span creek if you a driving a tractor or a truck across it.
For 4 wheeler you could us 6"x6" PT timber for your bridge beams.
Or for a temporary bridge for 4wheelers....you could use a couple cedar logs/ 2"x6" PT boards...built a couple like that as well. Just to cross a gully /ditch.
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Don_P
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2015 09:47am
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If you cover a wooden bridge and detail it reasonably well it effectively becomes a permanent solution. A round log is stronger than a sawn timber of the same section... the grain runs uninterrupted. You can skip saw the top surface flat. Locust is generally the material of choice here for the stringers.
After that it is a span and load equation. I've been present for several bridge breakings, count on the occasional heavy load.
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2015 11:48am
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I've got several small creeks across my property.
My job as a facilities manager of a large industrial complex entitles me to a ready supply of machine skids.
I also know a guy that works for a company the builds industrial lathes. he sets me up with their skids.
Some of these are quite solid and built from decent wood. I rebuild them and beef them up with landscape timbers. it has been working out quite well.
Be wary as some of these are built from junk wood. If you go this route look for stamped lumber.
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NorthRick
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2015 12:03pm - Edited by: NorthRick
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We've gone the "cut two nearby trees down" route. Used PT 2x6 x 12' boards cut in half to deck the bridge. 6 feet wide is perfect for foot traffic or a regular ATV. Won't last forever but will last quite a while (10+ yrs).
As far as using treated wood to bridge a creek. None of the treatments are especially great for aquatic life. However, old creosote timbers/poles are the worst. Avoid using those if you value fish and any thing else that lives in the creek or downstream from it.
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Kudzu
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2015 06:24pm
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You can't beat using railroad ties for small 4-wheeler bridges and I don't recommend used power poles, unless you know the history of the pole. I have a 20 foot span over a creek that I used NEW power poles and I expect that bridge to outlast me.
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Rowjr
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# Posted: 17 Oct 2015 11:52am
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Cool feedback ! Hope to see some pics of some of the bridges describe above...
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Turbogeno
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# Posted: 17 Oct 2015 12:22pm
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I built a small ATV bridge a few weeks ago as the old skidder bridge wasn't looking too good. I used lumber I had on hand and will build a more permanent one when I get around to it. I laid the ends on pavers to give it a little more stability and keep it off the ground. It doesn't sag more than an inch with a large ATV on it. It spans 14' and I'll pull it out and put it on blocks in the winter before the snow gets to deep.
Thanks, Geno
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Rowjr
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# Posted: 17 Oct 2015 01:51pm
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Looks like it would work Appreciate the input
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beachman
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# Posted: 17 Oct 2015 05:11pm
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Anybody ever used an older flatbed trailer? I have been thinking about a trail access with about a 20ft span across a creek. I thought I might be able to roll one of these into place then take the wheels off.
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 18 Oct 2015 05:50pm
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I've had a couple. A treated plank bridge worked for twenty years, but alas, it can't be trusted to hold my diesel tractor anymore. I did buy a large trailer frame, but thought it might look trashy. I decided on another wood bridge. This time I will build a nice shingled roof over it. This will do for this year. I built two large 20' trusses from both treated and for 2x8's and 2x6's. Then I set them on cement block, put 2x8 joist across them and treated 2x10 decking over that. The ends that angle down to the dirt are replaceable. I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out how to get them from my phone to here.
Owen
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Don_P
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# Posted: 22 Oct 2015 10:01pm
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Now if I can just remember where I was going when I remembered these.
Timber Bridges Design, Construction,
Inspection, and Maintenance, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service
907 pages!
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/misc/em7700_8--entire-publication.pdf
Covered Bridge Manual, 346 pgs;
http://www.timberframeengineeringcouncil.org/images/pdf/Covered%20Bridge%20Manual.pdf
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Littlecooner
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2015 08:38am - Edited by: Littlecooner
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A lot of ATV bridges in this part of the world that are on Turkeyhunters idea, the used power poles are available at a buck a foot so if you need to span a 25 foot creek, $ 70 will get you two 35 foot poles (you pick out the best ones where we buy ours). Use a little premixed concrete mix for a sturdy foundation at the abutment ends and then go purchase that 2 inch saw lumber at a local saw mill. The 10 foot boards give you 5 foot wide, but the 12 do a 6 foot wide and that gives a 1 foot width on each side of a ATV on the bridge. Probable last 20-30 years. If you want to treat the decking, use old motor oil to add a little treatment to the wood for a few more years of life. Pre drill and pre treat all the wood decking and go nail with spikes.
If you have access to Black Locust standing trees, two of them will last two lifetimes for the beams, but drive the decking in quick or you will be drilling the holes to anchor the decking as the Locust really hardens up as the sap goes away and the log begins to dry. Cut Black locust boards for decking will literally last 80-100 years.
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Littlecooner
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2015 09:01am
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An additional idea on prevention of loosing your structure during an over topping event. The mobile home industry has auger style anchors that are about 4 foot in length that can be screwed into the ground with a large eye at the top. One or two on each end of any structure you build and proper cable attachments will make sure the structure is still in place when the water returns to its natural state. Water has a lot of force when moving fast and especially if there is a full size tree floating down stream and lodges against your structure.
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Don_P
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2015 09:56am
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And another, tilt the deck a little upstream, make the overtopping current push the bridge down into its' footings rather than floating it off.
Ultimately the power of water wins if you get into a fight with it. A steel and concrete bridge was swept downstream here this year. I've seen water over it many times but eventually it won.
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KinAlberta
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2015 02:52pm - Edited by: KinAlberta
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My brother and his friends built ours out of steel and used a couple of 4x4s to drag it across the frozen lake and up the creek one winter (about 25 yrs ago). It's held up very well. The deck is all galvanized channel (about 10" x 4") and the upper triangular support is steel tubing. It's about 30' - 40' long and 6' wide. Works great for small ATVs. During high water the water reaches the bottom of the bridge and thinking it's at risk of ice damage or being swept into the creek, I've always planned to jack it up and put RR ties under the ends and build ramps. That's still on my ToDo list.
In dragging it across the lake though with a 4x4 Suburban and a pickup truck in tandem they pretty much lifted the pickup off the ground as it went over an ice ridge. They got lucky that with unexpected complications like that, it still only took a few hours and not suddenly a few days - and hiring a dozer to retrieve a truck and bridge off a lake.
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darz5150
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2015 03:44pm - Edited by: darz5150
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This isn't exactly a small bridge. It is a 52 foot Great Dane semi-trailer frame.
It is in pretty ruff shape now because of some seriously heavy rainfall a few years ago. Originally it was very nice. We put 4 inch thick by 10 inch wide boards across the whole thing. It was about 10 feet wide and we put up heavy side posts and rails, with lattice work for safety.
It was strong enough to drive a 4 wheel drive with a cattle trailer with 4 cows across....no problem. We poured concrete pads on both sides.
When the flood came it washed literally tons of debris, as well as full size trees ( some with the root balls ) up and over it. No more sides, ripped up part of the deck etc. You see what's left. I had a sawmill cut some 1 x 12 oak planks for me, and rigged it up enough to use again. Although I must say its a little ( A LOT) scary to some people riding across it. I don't think that everone thinks its as fun as I do, when you drive across it, you can look down and see the water, rocks etc! LOL
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buckybuck
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2015 05:14pm
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Regarding the used power poles--you buy these directly from the local utility company? If so, is there any particular department within the utility company I should contact regarding buying used poles? How do you get them delivered?
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morock
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# Posted: 26 Oct 2015 06:47pm
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I used a design from the vermont foresty dept.
http://fpr.vermont.gov/forest/your_woods/harvesting_your_woodlots/skidder_bridge
Very strong, easy to build, and inexpensive.
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Rowjr
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2015 04:20pm
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Ok looking good but there must be more out there to show off or talk about.....
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2015 03:20pm - Edited by: OwenChristensen
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Here's a picture of my 20' bridge. It seems to hold 5,000 lb. truck just fine.
Owen
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Rowjr
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2015 03:40pm
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I like it
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Tyler Danann
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# Posted: 6 Nov 2015 09:37pm
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One of my cabin neighbors had his bridge collapse and for a while he was just parking his truck on the main road.
The after about five days or so I noticed three, romper-stomper beams of a thickness I've never seen before.
I'd recently gotten some 5x5s from logs using my neighbors sawmill but these monsters must have been 10x10s or even 12x12s! I wish I had gotten a picture.
They soon went from being on the side of the road to being installed across the bridge. Two of the beams went along either edge while the third slid in the middle. Some smaller beams finished it off along with boards on top!
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KinAlberta
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2017 09:19am
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Well a neighbour just texted me a few photos of our bridge. Unfortunately the bridge is now benting and a broken broken - so far.
A beaver dam flooded the water high enough upstream of it to surround the steel beams and now the ice is lifting, pushing and twisting the bridge. Welds are breaking too. We'll have to wait for spring and hope it can be salvaged somehow.
It's steel channel beams welded together with a inverted V angular support made of drill pipe on top. It was strong enough to drive our Kuboto tractor across.
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2017 09:33am
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old flat bed semi trailers work well for long spans if you can get them in there. one of the biggest things to remember is that the ends need to be on solid ground and back far enough from the end of the bank that it doesn't collapse or was in. so if your stream is only 10 foot wide you will need a 20' or longer bridge unless you plan on sinking pylons in at the edges
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Cowracer
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2017 09:45am - Edited by: Cowracer
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We have "half" a bridge. Me and a good friend have a couple lots at a lake that we are set up very nice on, (cabin, pavilion, fire-pit, etc) A buddy bought an adjoining lot to mine, and there is a big gully between them. The plan was to use a couple old telephone poles to bridge the gap, and then deck over it with some 2x6 and put in a railing so him and his wife could walk over from their lot
Then the buddy decides to go cheap on me and wants to put a handicap ramp (complete with wore-out green astroturf) he can get for free over the poles as a walking surface. As the gully is 95% on my property, I nix that idea as it would look about as redneck as you can imagine... Buddy loses interest and the poles have sat there in place for a year. Buddy then decides to sell his lot to us. We are going to use is to build a parking area for our boats, so we will be soon getting something going again on the bridge.
The poles, as a base for a bridge will work out very well. I guess we have about 20-25 feet total span and they are rock solid. We just notched each bank and set the poles in the notches. Took a little bit to get everything level, but that was just shovel and grunt work.
I have no doubts that these poles would support anything upto maybe a full size truck. Best of all, they were cheap. I think we got like 6 used poles for $200.
ON EDIT: This is a dry gully. I have never seen more than a foot of water in there, even in the most viscous storm that cause the lake to overtop the spillway, and flooded some of the lower roads.
Tim
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KinAlberta
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2017 09:53am - Edited by: KinAlberta
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Laminating in plywood just doesn't make sense to me. Wouldnt joins at every 8' just weaken the beams. Plus water and thus rot / dry rot occur along this seam?
http://www.caseyandcompany.com/single-post/2015/10/09/Building-an-ATV-Bridge
http://www.caseyandcompany.com/single-post/5617b7a10cf2c3576e554afe
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creeky
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2017 01:07pm
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I would put a layer of water proof tape over the top of the beams. I see this done in big engineered public use decks.
A lot of the exterior grade plywood is waterproof (from Alberta!). and if the wood/plywood is glued and screwed the gap between ply sections is pretty tiny.
while metal can be notch sensitive wood fibres spread the load.
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