Small creek bridge abutment design?

   / Small creek bridge abutment design?
  • Thread Starter
#11  
Welllll,
A not so good turn of events.
I was talking to an engineer friend about abutments, beam span, etc for my bridge.
He stopped me mid sentence and asked if I had secured permits with the State Environmental agency and/or the corps of engineers ???? Say what??

He said according to the USFW maps, my creek bottom is a potential/likely wetlands.
I said it is dry except the creek, even when I dug post 2' down.
No matter, the state considers it non tidal wetlands UNTIL I hire an engineer to survey it, etc, etc to determine if it is wetlands or not. ~ 3,000.00 to have that done and at least a 50% chance he will determine it wetlands.

If I were to disturb anything down there I would be looking at 20K to undo it.
I asked about the neighbors riding 4 wheelers in the bottom on their property,, he said "recreating" is not something they inforce,, but building a bridge over a stream,, any excavating (digging a hole), filling (concrete),, they will crucify Me.

So much for my bridge :(
 
   / Small creek bridge abutment design? #12  
You didn't say what state you are in but you are right to fear the wetlands permit. Usually your best defense is that you must have the construction to avoid diminishing the value of the property due to not being able to access both sides of your property.

FWIW an abutment and beams is the hard way. Consider a "low water bridge" which means lay a bunch of culvert pipes side by side in the creek, place heavy stone fill in the center and then encase in concrete to form a road over the creek. Keep the level as low as possible so flooding can easily flow over the top of the bridge.

Good Luck!
 
   / Small creek bridge abutment design? #13  
Why are you not install culverts instead building a bridge?
 
   / Small creek bridge abutment design?
  • Thread Starter
#14  
rogerius said:
Why are you not install culverts instead building a bridge?
Click to expand...
I am in MD,
I have talked to a few people who deal with situations pertaining to non tidal wetlands,, They ONLY form of creek crossing would be a temp bridge that spans from bank to bank without disturbing the actual creek bed.
A temp bridge would be allowed for forestry and Ag purposes,, "Temporary" is the key word.
I could apply, about $300, they would inspect before, then after I remove the temp bridge.

But a culvert is beyound a big "No" from everyone I have talked to.
 
   / Small creek bridge abutment design? #15  
Waterskier said:
You didn't say what state you are in but you are right to fear the wetlands permit. Usually your best defense is that you must have the construction to avoid diminishing the value of the property due to not being able to access both sides of your property.

FWIW an abutment and beams is the hard way. Consider a "low water bridge" which means lay a bunch of culvert pipes side by side in the creek, place heavy stone fill in the center and then encase in concrete to form a road over the creek. Keep the level as low as possible so flooding can easily flow over the top of the bridge.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...
If he worried a bridge over the creek will run into wetland issues, a culvert will not work
 
   / Small creek bridge abutment design? #16  
If it’s out in the middle of nowhere you might be ok but…………
 
   / Small creek bridge abutment design? #17  
That stinks. Sometimes rules create the very problem which they are supposed to guard against...
Now you will continue to drive through it, creating mud everytime that it rains.
 
   / Small creek bridge abutment design?
  • Thread Starter
#18  
Funny thing is,,,,, When I was talking to the engineer who is well versed in the wetlands issue, I asked about my neighbors who have acreage just down stream of me. They race their 4 wheelers down on there property in the bottom. Through the creek, etc.
He said "they will not touch them, because they are not excavating, filling or building, even though they are destroying the stream, nothing can be done. But if you BUILD a bridge, you will be crucified."
 
   / Small creek bridge abutment design? #19  
Where I grew up in California, a buddy had some land next to a Park. The Park Police and Rangers where always messing with us because his easement allowed us to drive through the Park, but vehicle traffic was off limits to people using the Park. They even landed helicopters to check our ID and make sure we where allowed to drive to his land on his easement. When the road started to erode, the Park arrested his son for fixing it, which lead to a court battle that he won. This happened over and over again. He was a local government employee and he enjoyed fighting with the Park, so these things happened all the time.

The biggest battle was when he "cleaned" up an old pond that was full of trees in a canyon near his cabin. Since the Park was not able to prove that the pond wasn't there before he "cleaned" it up and "rebuilt" the dam, they couldn't do anything about it.

If there was a bridge there previously, say 50 years ago, and it was in need of "repair", couldn't you just "rebuild" the bridge and not violate any of their rules?
 
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