How strong is my wooden bridge?

[davrow]

Culverts come in different gauges thus different cover requirements.

I thought the rule was 50% of the pipe diameter, regardless of size of pipe. 18" pipe needs (proper bedding) and 9" cover over it. 60" pipe needs 30", etc.

Hm, maybe I was only reading about concrete or HDPE... but I thought it was a universal rule.

 

[newbury]

Drew -
Here's what you need

Bridge headwalls for building bridge / culvert - $4500 (Front Royal VA)

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I have one pair of new bridge headwalls that measure approximately 14'
-6" long, 5' high, with 2' footings. They have a pair of 30" culvert pipes that are offset 4' from one another. The pair includes the adapter bands for attaching to your culvert pipe. They can be spaced out as will as needed to accomadate your situation. They cost $16,000 new for the pair. Email with questions or call Walt at show contact info Thanks.
do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers

Bridge headwalls for building bridge / culvert

 

[MacLawn]

I think y'all boys are over thinking old daug's need to get his tractor on other side of ditch. I'd be over there already, on ye current bridge. How much ye tractor weigh daug?

 

[bcp]

If you only need across in the dry season, one time, drop a couple of bucket loads of dirt in the ditch and drive across. Do it again next year if needed.

Bruce

 

[MossRoad]

Or carve ramps into and out of the banks on both sides and just ford it

 

[daugen]

This weekend I intend to go under that bridge again, this time armed with a drill and a long bit.
Think I might do a little more than poke.
particularly if I have someone to watch for snakes...

Going to go up and down each beam and do a proper inspection, determine how badly rotted each one is. If two of them are ok, which I doubt, they probably could hold the three ton tractor all by themselves. Figuring weight with FEL and ballast box. Some of the beams show rot in the middle and some in the end. For excitement potential I think I'm more worried about the rot in the middle, but long term, all that rot has to be dealt with. I guess what I really don't know is there enough wood left to have adequate strength. If I put that six inch drill in there and it keeps on going, not good at all. But I will try from the other side also, but I don't care how big the beam is, if it's half rotten, short of an Indiana Jones movie stunt, I'm not going over it.

so remembering my desire not to be one with the forest animals on this one, I'm going to move right along, and concentrate first on the worst areas and see if they are immediate deal killers. If not, I'll keep drilling.

these beams are so big my little drill holes aren't going to hurt anything. I'm hoping I hit that old locust and the drill struggles.
I'll take more pictures of the worst areas too. And measurements of where the rot is.

sound like a plan?

I figure ho matter what I need to stop the decay if that is possible.
How about a hundred pounds of GitRot...

 

[daugen]

Or carve ramps into and out of the banks on both sides and just ford it

hmmmmm
that's a very good idea
I don't have a backhoe, but I do have this...
Tree Spade
or maybe this is the excuse to rent that little Cat mini excavator from the rental dealer nearby.

Ramps are yet another form of a ditch in their own way, so I would have to be careful with where I funnel water, but
as something simple, safe, and low cost, ramps have a lot of appeal. It would only be for the tractor; the wooden bridge should be, or so I will find out, fine for the UTV and golf cart if one goes slowly. Or likely fast too...:confused3::dance1:

I could get the Gravely down and up the ramps too; important consideration for my prime small workhorse pulling a trailer. And if there's that much rain, and yes we get a bunch of three inchers, to get water in the ditch, for sure, I mean absolutely sure, I'm not going to be back working in the woods and need to ford the raging ditch to get home. Actually a tractor has quite a bit of clearance but the idea of a water moccasin swimming in my cab is a bit disconcerting.

 

[MossRoad]

The fun thing about ramps..... ZOOM - SPLASH!!! :laughing:

 

[bcp]

 

[daugen]

I watched the whole thing, er, no I didn't, I just couldn't watch that guy learn to use his FEL, painful to watch. And it was like he was playing with his food instead of eating it...
but yeah, perfect idea to stabilize the creek bed in that area. And I can get a small dump truck back there.

Going to be dropping some trees to make the path back to the pond, and if they are hardwood, I'll drag them out for firewood.
Not sure what to do with pine. I know, make a bridge...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Yep, if ya had an ORANGE tractor, you just paint the 01 on it, like someone else suggested, and you just jump it. I have an old mill race on the lower side of my property. I drive thru it. Someone else suggested way back around page 1 or 2 to just cut the bank out a little and drive thru it, nothing that 10 or 20 minutes with a FEL won't fix.

 

[farmer2009]

Drew. Run an Internet search for Low Water Crossings. There are many ideas out there. From gravel to one I seen with concrete blocks and then filled the holes with gravel. I have two low water crossing in my place. One gets so soft with the slightest rain I can only move the dozer over it. The other the beavers have locked about 3 feet of water in. Need to do some trapping this winter.

The one that gets soft has rip rap in the bottom of it. But it grows every year as it gets soft getting on and off it.

 

[NoTrespassing]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...construction-starts-monday-304780-bridge1-jpg

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...nd-construction-starts-monday.html?highlight=

The bridge on our property was in worse shape than yours, the only difference being that there was a concrete slab poured on top of it. We drove over it for several years and even pulled a double wide manufactured home over it. I wouldn't be afraid to drive a 5,000 lb. tractor over it provided my rops was up and seatbelt on.

We replaced ours with a 24" tile eventually. It's amazing how much water it can handle and even though there are trees that float up to it, it has never clogged. (knock on wood)

Kevin

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

whats that Nike slogan? "Just do it" :jump:

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I watched the whole thing, er, no I didn't, I just couldn't watch that guy learn to use his FEL, painful to watch. And it was like he was playing with his food instead of eating it...
but yeah, perfect idea to stabilize the creek bed in that area. And I can get a small dump truck back there.

Going to be dropping some trees to make the path back to the pond, and if they are hardwood, I'll drag them out for firewood.
Not sure what to do with pine. I know, make a bridge...

That little sand and gravel he put in there will just wash out. On my creek, I used about 1' pit run and compacted it in. Even at that, half of the rocks ended up moving downstream, though enough locked in and stayed put to do the job. At another spot I used 3' riprap for bank stabilization, and that stayed put just fine. Pit run is cheaper than crushed anyway, and your tractor is beefier than his. I hope you have a heavy duty front loader.

 

[daugen]

I think your idea of three inch stone in the ditch bed makes sense. After the first water flow through it the
debris will fill it in I suppose so it won't be so bumpy. I'm still learning the water drainage realities here; the water in the entire ditch may dry up in a few days, like an arroyo, because the soil is so sandy here.

Cutting out the banks of the ditch in one spot should not be that hard. I just have to figure out where to do it. Likely not far from that bridge so as to access the same road heading back into the woods. I never got out to drill the bridge today; too sidetracked by planting mums and roses. And it just poured a little while ago; would be nice if it did that tomorrow morning; would like to head back there in a downpour in my slicker and see what if anything is coming down that ditch. Would have to be after several inches of rain, and most likely prolonged rain. Like we have had here for sure since I got here two months ago. Not motivated in the least to head back there in the dark in the pouring rain. Or I could thrill the neighbors on a Saturday night and sit there in the Kubota with all my lights on watching the ditch. All in the interest of waterway management of course. that would be pretty lame seat time...

 

[tcreeley]

Ok, I won't be so hasty about tree growth statements but they really do go up a little; I know from carving my initials in many, many trees in our woods growing up.
Buckeye, I read your post several times, very interesting. So you built your own beam by building up with oak planks. If I ever were to build a new bridge, a real bridge and not a culvert, I'd sure overbuild it. You know, a nice used M Kubota I want for banging around in the woods will sure weigh more than my L. Or a mini excavator. I would probably build it to carry seven to ten tons; a good safety margin. It's just a pond back there, never going to take a vehicle over the bridge.
He said now...

which begs the question, how strong are metal culvert pipes? How many feet of dirt would you need to pile on top to take, for example, a small bulldozer over, a nice D3. Like most guys, always wanted a bulldozer. Not very practical on my place but it sure would clear a trail nicely. So will a chainsaw and a pull chain. Now obviously culvert pipes are infinitely strong if built "properly", but if I dropped a five foot diameter pipe in a six foot ditch, with stone underneath, how much dirt has to go on top? I'm guessing that gravel goes on top first. Not an excavator guys, sorry if questions are stupid.

I'm really thinking that fixing this bridge up cosmetically and building something much stronger next to it or nearby makes the most sense. The bridge should last decades with just light use, say under a thousand pounds.

I put in a 20' 20" pvc culvert with about 10" of gravel over it. I've had a dump truck dropping off loads of gravel, passing over it repeatedly fully loaded. No problem. Culverts are tough.