The new bridge

[cooperhawk]

We got it poured yesterday and now it needs four days to cure prior to driving on it.
It replace an old wooden bridge made out of creosoted timbers that had been in place for almost
forty years. The gas delivery kid, (a new driver), refused to cross it so we decided to get it replaced
now. We had been contemplating it for a while anyway.
What we did was lay treated plywood right over the old bridge, after removing the treads, and poured
concrete right over it.
It's about twenty ft wide and twenty five foot long and is heavily reinforced with rerod.
The creek is dry at the present time.

[fortyshooter]

That ought to handle a good load and it looks nice! My creek down at the range has dried up too.

[cooperhawk]

Well, the cement cured for four days as the contractor recommended and this morning I opened
the driveway and brought the vehicles home. All is good.
It is surprising how we take for granted having our cars right in the garage and handy, and then
all of a sudden you have to climb a hill through heavy woods to get to them.
We are spoiled I guess.
I grew up not having even a garage and having to dig them out of snowbanks to use them in the Winter.

[John E Davies]

Did you do anything to those old footings? How did that look? I personally think four days isn't nearly a long enough wait to drive on but I guess that is a moot point now. I hate little residential bridges with no rails, I nearly lost a travel trailer once on one.I hope you plan to put up proper reflective posts at each end.

How much did the job cost?

John Davies
Spokane WA

[cooperhawk]

Wow! Really?
Four days is what the contractor recommended as it was a special quick setting concrete.
The old footings are still solid and the bridge overlaps each of them by four feet.
I didn't have a rail on the old bridge but plan one on this one. We embedded plastic pipe in the concrete
to set them in.
I've had reflectors on the bridge since 35 years ago.
It cost around $7000.00 complete.

[Oldbrass]

Very nice project Copperhawk it'll last a hundred years or more... I'm curious though was a culvert considered an option ?

[Ozarkwoodswalker]

Looks nice!!

[cooperhawk]

Very nice project Copperhawk it'll last a hundred years or more... I'm curious though was a culvert considered an option ?

Originally there was a culvert but due to the depth it wasn't big enough to handle the crick when it rained heavily so we took it out and put in a bridge. That was 35 years ago. To do one big enough we would have had to raise the driveway several feet creating a hill.

[BigAl52]

Looks good to me Coop.

[BrokenolMarine]

We had looked at a property in another state before buying this one, very nice location with a decent price but would have needed a new hvac system and a new bridge across a much wider and deeper creek. The engineers on both my forums said it would be costly since we would want to build one to handle ups vehicles and delivery trucks. WE would have been driving two loaded uhauls across the existing bridge and the vote was unanimous: no.

Great job, it looks good and hope it last thru your grandkids life time. Rails, even rr ties along the edges will rock.