Bridge Project (he only comes here when he wants something)

[TomPenny]

as far as expanded metal Im really thinking more like a grate. I don't know what its called really. Its expanded metal where the diamond shapes are actually verticle with little grooves on them. The are very study I've seen them used on cat walks and overhead suspended decks in warehouses. I thought King it had but but I didn't see it online.

Next is the I-beam or truss. this 20footer is 221.00
I'm not sure about the strength or anything though.

Then there is the abutment. I'm sure I can pour a couple of those. There is also this option, quickblocks. Supposedly you can buy these comparible to concrete. I don't know yet.

the trailor option isn't a bad idea. I just wonder about handling once you got it there.

[TomPenny]

theres this guy around here that puts up a lot of steel buildings for home owners. He makes his own trusses out of square tubing and round bar. the round bar is bent in a pattern /\/\/\ and then welded to the square bar. I guess it works haven't seen any problems.

a truss would be a problem for me when high water flows in.

[YM-135trac]

[quote=TomPenny]theres this guy around here that puts up a lot of steel buildings for home owners. He makes his own trusses out of square tubing and round bar. the round bar is bent in a pattern /\/\/\ and then welded to the square bar. I guess it works haven't seen any problems.

a truss would be a problem for me when high water flows in.[/QUOTE

I've seen RR/flat car bridge before,I would guess someone would make a buisness out of it, It's co$t effective. Bar truss would work(light duty). You could block flow entrance w/sheetmetal mounted from outside ledger-to-bottom of truss(forming smooth top funnel) keeping junk from tangling in bar joist? Or flip-em & use em on top and support on bottom of truss w/ truss acting as hand-rail.(again even more light duty) Bar joist can be had at demo jobs, cheap.(scrap price)(bldg inspectors req. new engineer cert.).bldg permit hard to get using them? w/out new cert.(nobody wants to re-cert,un-seen damage/past in-use stresses unknown ect.)Old mobile home beams good too. You've come up w/lots of good ideas.....loading dock ramps/bar-truss/ect. I'm a scraper i guess building something VS/ already built w/a/ little mods here&there, seems easier to me? I'm sure you'll come-up w/something.

As to handling float. I seem to remember JD 690? t-hoe. After carrier cut-out,it lighten it up quite a bit. Not to big a t-hoe. Pilings were set/bulk head(metal siding)in place/&back-filled. rigged w/ 4 cables, held close to operator station(good operator)walked into bottom of ditch/ & set into place/welded to iron lagged into piling. done. good luck

[Treemonkey1000]

There are a lot of you folks a lot smarter than I on these type of projects. Just tossing my 2 cents worth in. What about cutting some culvert at the right shape and angle to make a "nose cone" that would go in between the two culverts. Basically to divide the water some what. It would have to project out far enough to be of any use. Then anchor them in concrete to keep from being undermined by the water pressure. I like Eddies Concrete bag approach. Build those up and around enough to form an apron-retaining wall.