In need of a bridge

Bigbear · Mar 5, 2007

As some of you have read, my 1/2 mile road is under way, and I am now in need of a bridge. The creek is about 50 feet across, and I have been kicking around the idea of a suspension type bridge. This will be for foot traffic only, and no heavy loads, (except my big butt). I suppose I should position and bury 2 large poles on each side to hold up the cable, but time is short, and I do have 2 trees on each side that would work pretty good for now. The cable I am looking at is 1/2" or 5/8" from Webriggingsupply, for less than a dollar a foot. I do have 2 lengths of utility pole guy wire that would be long enough, but not sure if it would work for this, it is very strong though. Has anybody else built this type of bridge? Any help would be appreciated. BEAR

schmism · Mar 5, 2007

word has it retired flat bed semi's work well for bridges. Designed to clear span
quite a few pounds

your likely to find them 28-40' ish. Which would mean building out the embankmanets a bit, but should be farily easy if you can figure out how to get the thing there ( i guess it would need to be set by a crane after you torched off the axles.

MrJimi · Mar 5, 2007

One of our members BTDT has done something like your talking about and he will chime in soon
Jim

texasjohn · Mar 5, 2007

Hmm.... well, no direct experience but an observation. In my area there is a lower frame of a trailer house... it burned up and only the metl bottom frame remains. I've often thought it would make a good bed for crossing over a creek. Just a thought... since you are interested in foot traffic, it might work.

toolaholic · Mar 5, 2007

saw a great bridge using a railroad flat car

gordon21 · Mar 5, 2007

I think that by the time you bought all the wire and cable clamps, the cost would go out of site. Using an old open flat bed trailer about 40'-53' long would be the easiest way. Using an old mobile home frame would be cheaper but then require building the entire decking.

The best solution may be to buy a wrecked box-type trailer about 48-53' long and to rip off the upper structure. Chances are the insurance company will let one go cheap. Couple grand tops. The seller can have the tires and axles back once it has been towed to your site. If it is a modern trailer, the inside floor will be aluminum with channels the entire length for drainage and the tops of the ridges will be crosshatched for traction. You might spend a lot of hours stripping it down to the parts you need, but the price would be right.

Bigbear · Mar 6, 2007

Great ideas guys, but the problem with a semi-trailer or mobile home frame is getting it back to the creek. The creek crossing is 1/2 mile back through the woods, on a raised bed of dirt that is not settled down or even packed yet, so pulling something like that would be a disaster to the new road bed. I had another idea to buy 2 or 3 new light poles that are 50 or 60 foot long and try and float them down the creek to the place the bridge will be. The suspension bridge came to mind, simply out of ease of material delivery. We really enjoy living back in the woods, but it is quite a challenge to do even the simplest things. I hope BTDT reads this and lets me know what I'm in for. BEAR

BarryinMN · Mar 6, 2007

A suspension bridge is going to need relatively massive anchor points. The approaches and anchor materials may outweigh the actual bridge.

How about a simple rope bridge using your trees?

If you need a rigid bridge how about building off site & helicopter into position?

MikeD74T · Mar 6, 2007

Do a search for 'the rainbow bridge', they have spans up to 50', can be kit built & hauled to remote areas. MikeD74T

sandman2234 · Mar 6, 2007

There is another problem with a drybox type of tractor trailer van. They have no frame, as the sides of the trailer are what hold the weight and keep the floor from collapsing. If you remove the sides, you don't have any strength left. I doubt it would hold itself up in a strong wind, much less somebody on it. If you insist on using a trailer, such as a drybox, just use the whole trailer, with the wheels removed (which by the way don't have to be torched off,they can be removed very easily) and just knock a hole in the front wall to allow access thru.
If I needed to do it, I would look for an old flatbed trailer, as they have frames under them, but as mentioned, it might be hard to get it to the location.
David from jax