Natural Bridge Project

RxRatedZ71 · Oct 15, 2011

Well, another project is nearly complete. I am in the final stages of building my second bridge on the property. The first one was a learning project and served us well to get us to our barn. See my attached link to a previous post of mine:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/142205-plans-small-bridge-4.html#post1880189

However, I wanted the second bridge to be more "natural" and aesthetic. It is more remote and tucked into the woods than the first, so I figured nothing better to use than the trees that surround it. The main supports are 3 telephone poles and the deck boards are PT 2x8. The bridge is 6' side and 25' long. The creek bed below is about 12 feet deep and typically just has runoff water from the turnpike and flows toward a private 600acre lake about 3/4 mile away..

RxRatedZ71 · Oct 15, 2011

My temporary bridge in this location was called "the scary bridge" because it was only 2' wide. After building my first bridge and investing about $350, my wife froze my assets.:smiley_aafz: I then scrounged around finding scrap lumber to make the scary bridge as I was slowly saving up more money to build its predecessor. The first two pics are self-explanatory.

I then decided to relocate the bridge 10' further downstream to utilize the closer banks, thus adding to stability. I've had some invasive Easter Red Cedars that I had planned to cut down for quite some time. I stripped the branches and used the main trunk for corner posts and had some post oaks that I used as cross beams. I took cedar branches and attached them to the upper cross beams. I plan to use more to finish the hand rails and keep anyone from falling over the edges.

RxRatedZ71 · Oct 15, 2011

A few pics as the project is almost finished. You can see how it blends in with the surroundings. I hope to get some wisteria or some other climbing vines to cover it next spring.

Little_Grizzly · Oct 16, 2011

Great looking bridge. Here is a link to the next bridge I'm making. Sadly the man who designed these passed away but his son still answers emails. http://mathemati.ca/

It's called the rainbow bridge and you can use two by fours.