Need to build a small bridge

[ovrszd]

A few years back the wife and I decided that we wanted to extend the smooth bore plastic culvert pipe that extends under our drive at the street. The idea being that if there was no ditch, mowing would be simplified. I wrote a letter to local zoning board and told them my plan. Within the month they paid me a visit to check things out. Then I get this official looking letter in the mail basically telling me that permission was denied. I still have that letter filed away.

Just a couple of weeks ago a neighbor down the street did the very same thing that we wanted to do. I silently watched, thinking he would get a visit from the zoning police as the pipe lay out in his yard for a week before he even started. Then he slowly finished his project and I believe the grass was just planted.

I'm still going ahead with our original idea only this time we aren't going to ask anyone for permission and the work will all take place on a weekend start to finish. Get the idea?

Let me see if I can get this quote right, "Better to ask forgiveness than ask permission"!!! Hahahahaha!!!! I work up against State Hiway right of way all the time. The times I've asked for a permit, I've got hassled and often rejected. The times I've done the work and properly finished the project, I've not even been noticed. Good Plan!!!!

 

[Bill Barrett]

Originally Posted by PineRidge
A few years back the wife and I decided that we wanted to extend the smooth bore plastic culvert pipe that extends under our drive at the street. The idea being that if there was no ditch, mowing would be simplified. I wrote a letter to local zoning board and told them my plan. Within the month they paid me a visit to check things out. Then I get this official looking letter in the mail basically telling me that permission was denied. I still have that letter filed away.

Just a couple of weeks ago a neighbor down the street did the very same thing that we wanted to do. I silently watched, thinking he would get a visit from the zoning police as the pipe lay out in his yard for a week before he even started. Then he slowly finished his project and I believe the grass was just planted.

I'm still going ahead with our original idea only this time we aren't going to ask anyone for permission and the work will all take place on a weekend start to finish. Get the idea?


I’m not trying to start a war. I started my project ignorant of any code issues, and heck there was a culvert already installed. I was taking a 12” out and installing a 24”. Next thing I know lawyers are involved $650.00 cost to me, $500.00 engineer, cost to me, trip to the county board meeting, and I had to have Army Corp of Engineers blessing . As far as your neighbor he might be lucky or the last shoe has yet to fall. If you have a denial letter I sure wouldn’t put one in now.

 

[CurlyDave]

Just a word to the wise here.

A lot of counties and towns are starting to buy satellite pictures of their jusristiction, primarily for code enforcement reasons. The guys who peddle the pictures have software that will compare features over large areas and flag any changes.

What they are finding is that the fines they generate from code enforcement are more than sufficient to offset the cost of the pictures, which are not cheap.

There are a lot more of these satellites up there than most people think. And, plain old-fashioned aerial photography can do the same job.

 

[BTDT]

Have you decided on bridge type yet? How about an update.

 

[rswyan]

If you have a denial letter I sure wouldn’t put one in now.

Mike,

If I remember correctly, the objection wasn't that you couldn't put a culvert in, it was just that you yourself couldn't do it - had to be done by the local road department, right ?

Oh and BTW, the department has a 2 year+ waiting list for such projects until they can get to it - and Mike still has to pay for the culvert himself I think.

My next door neighbors got the same story (I live about a mile and half from Mike, in the same municipality) - they are planning on just doing it themselves as well.

.... can't have them citizens actually taking responsibility for their environs themselves ...... oh no, we must do it for them .....

And governmental employees wonder why they are held in low repute ......

In the meantime, this ditch will probably continue to erode for the next two years and wash sediment down into the creek that's 100' downstream.

 

[bill177]

About the sat pix and the software to compare old to new ......... more government sticking their noses in where they are not wanted or needed.

Build your buildings in the woods and keep your stills there too hahaha.

**** guvment!

 

[Dargo]

I need to build a bridge to cover a similar area; about 8' deep and 20' across with a 12' width. My only problem is that my bridge needs to be able to carry about 100,000 pounds. Right now I have a culvert that I put in back in 1988 on a "temporary" basis. It handles the weight and a dozen or so vehicles daily, but has no side rails and doesn't really look up to par for the way I've now developed the area.

The real problem is when I check with an engineering company about a bridge that can carry 100k, it gets really expensive! I may end up having a pre-made concrete box culvert made and then set in place with a crane. I can attach rails to the box culvert and make it look reasonable, but that still won't be cheap.

 

[BTDT]

I have a small creek that divides my property. Pecan trees on one side, me on the other. I also thought about putting in concrete culverts, and I was trying to purchase some from a friend in Combine when he suggested I put in a suspension bridge. Interesting idea I thought. Found one on the internet that was about the length of the one I needed. Mine ended up being 121 ft. long, 4ft wide, and about 15 above the water. I used 5/8 cable that come off of a lift crane (scavenged from equipment co. I used to work for) for support cables, and 1/4 in. stainless cable to drop down and support deck. Floor is made from angle iron and expanded metal (4x8 sheets). I have cables tied off on each end to concrete blocks that weigh 4000lbs each, (4 total). Now I just ride my snapper across the bridge and mow under the pecan trees, and down the top of the levee so the wife and I have a nice place to walk in the evenings.

You can do a search for Greenbrier bridge and see the one that inspired mine, it is located in West Virginia.

 

[Tom_Veatch]

"Better to ask forgiveness than ask permission

Close enough on the quote, ovrszd!

I'll probably get bit one of these days, but the only time I "ask permission" is when it's a project bigger than I want to tackle alone and subcontract parts of it out to a licensed contractor. They almost always insist on going the permit route. I understand why, but it sure increases the hassles.

I'm sure there are public benefits to requiring permits in many cases, but in just as many it seems more like a way for the city/county/etc. to assure the "improvement" is assessed and added to the ad valorem tax rolls.

 

[dknarnd]

I'm still going ahead with our original idea only this time we aren't going to ask anyone for permission and the work will all take place on a weekend start to finish. Get the idea?

Good friend of mine that is a local contractor has always told me "it is easier to beg for forgiviness than ask permission". Just take photos of your projects as they progress and for some jobs include a tape measure extended to indicate depth or scale.

Me and a friend purchased a 100 acre farm two years ago with the intention of subdividing off two sections for sale and we split 75 acres of woodland behind the parcels we sold. Our mistake was in not installing a pipe for the right away immedieatly after buying the land. The stream we had to cross goes dry most summers but when applying for the right away we were forced to have wet land delination, a run off survey, and the crossing engineered to tell us how to put a pipe in and what size. It took us 18 months to get everything passed through the local planning commission for the crossing and therefore was not allowed to close sales on the two parcels until that time.

I own adjoining land to this farm, my parents have been there about 60 years and I've been around 46 of those years. The engineered crossing suggested a pipe that is two small for the amount of run off that ocassionally comes down through that dry stream bed! Since it was such a hassle to get this permit we went ahead and put the pipe in even though we have no intention of making a road into the woodland. When you drive by you see a bridge that leads no where.