I need a new BRIDGE!!!

[beeforty]

I have no idea what railroad cars sell for, but that seems pretty high for scrap price.

It may seem high, but hope fully it has not been overstressed and is just good for scrap metal. I don't know what their criteria is for when they scrap a car, cause you sure don't want it to fail on you. My neighbor had to have extra width added and railing put on his he put in.$$$$

 

[aczlan]

$22k seems a little high for a flatbed, but if that is what they run in your area, you are stuck with that price.
Looking online, I see $10-15k prices for box/hopper cars.

Aaron Z

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Found a study done in Iowa on using RR flact cars for bridges. Cal Trans has an emergency kit using RR flat cars for a freeway bridge. They used it on Interstate 5 when they had washout near Coalinga in the middle 90's.


http://www.iowadot.gov/operationsresearch/reports/reports_pdf/hr_and_tr/reports/tr421.pdf


David Kb7uns

 

[ultrarunner]

Don't want to appear negative to RR bridges but that Swanton trestle bridge was built to replace a railcar bridge that washed out in Jan '82. Now it's 2x? the lenght that it was. That's why I say make it high and anchor it good!! When they wash out they usually take out 1 or 2 banks and then you have more work and $$

Not at all and very timely subject...

The RR was shutdown from last years record rains... erosion to the bank.

To contain, they used rip-rap and then got word they lacked the necessary permits... so the rip-rap had to come out and the non-profit spent $5000 on several permits and hundreds of man-hours all the while more bank was eroding...

In the end, they got permission to stabilize the bank with rip-rap and opened for New Years...

Left a bad taste for the many volunteers and diverted scarce funds...

I have friends in the area... they said last season's rains made the 7 mile dirt/gravel road impassible at times... this year, it has been so dry that a Honda Civic has no problem...

I say build it strong because you might not get the chance to build it again...

 

[ultrarunner]

Found a study done in Iowa on using RR flact cars for bridges. Cal Trans has an emergency kit using RR flat cars for a freeway bridge. They used it on Interstate 5 when they had washout near Coalinga in the middle 90's.


http://www.iowadot.gov/operationsresearch/reports/reports_pdf/hr_and_tr/reports/tr421.pdf


David Kb7uns

I drove over those bridges several times... traffic would slow going across and then back up to speed...

It definitely kept the wheels rolling...

 

[Rowdy Raven]

And now the update.....
Today we met at the bridge. Present were the land owner, a friend who runs a commercial bridge building company, a bridge builder who specializes in rr flatcars, and a few other good friends. I really need to post some pix here so that you get a better idea what we're up against. We discussed numerous options, going high, going low, I beams, H beams, locust stringers, and rr flatcars.

The landowner feels strongly about building a low water bridge. This is due in part to the tremendous flooding that we get and that building a high water bridge would be $$$$$ expensive. The existing low water bridge was built in 1946 and the stringers have never washed out.

Thus, at the end we agreed that the best approach was to put a 60' rr flatcar across the stream resting it on H beam pilings encased in concrete on each side. The builder will provide us with a turn key proposal and his initial thought was it would be in the 20k range. I will let you know when I get the actual proposal. All in all a great day.

 

[Hollow]

Glad everything seems to be working out! :thumbsup:

 

[Oliver1655]

One important point you stated during your initial description was the upstream side of the bridge was lower than the down stream side. This was done to have the water flow push down on the bridge helping to hold it in place. I hope your group has recognized this and plan to do this with the replacement. One of the problems with bridges floating off is the water being able to "lift" the bridges because the upstream edge is level or higher. :thumbsup:

 

[jimmysisson]

They must have discussed this during your assessment meeting, but I wonder what caused the central concrete abutment to fail. Did it get eroded so wasn't evenly supported? It didn't sound very large, but sat there for many decades.
Glad you're on your way to a solution. Great to have friends in the bridge business!
Jim

 

[jimgerken]

Wow. Ambitious endeavor. I love to build stuff and would find this a great project to undertake. However, I am not willing to pay for something that may be the local government's responsibility. Have you tried sitting in at the local township meetings and present a case for them to take the project? Probably it is way more money than they could come up with, so it would have to be adopted by the State. But you'd still want to start with the Township and get their approval, etc. If there are homes on the other side of this bridge and they are taxed, it seems like you have a case for public funds. the tax assessor could be your friend in this case. They don't really want to loose the tax revenue, but if you can't get to your house, well, it sort of adds up to a government job to me. I probably don't understand the whole situation though.