Hand-Made Bridge

jrico01 · 09-23-2009, 10:02 PM

My dad, I and a few other guys built 2 bridges: the 1st is a stainless steel driveway bridge, and the 2nd is a stainless steel walking bridge, both over the same ravine. Also, the driveway bridge holds 90 tons, it has 6 stainless steel I-Beams w/ 86 yards of cement as a foundation. Enjoy. BTW, these were built at our house in Elba, MN, USA. Thanks for viewing! Here's the link to the album: Driveway & Walking Bridges - a set on Flickr

TxBuilder · 09-24-2009, 07:56 AM

Amazing! Wow! Do you have the specs?

jrico01 · 09-28-2009, 04:28 PM

Hi TxBuilder. Thanks for the compliment. I don't have all of the specs but the top of the bridge was made of expanded steel for the weight and this material never gets slippery with ice and snow does not accumulate for additional weight. Also, the bridge itself is 120 feet and with approaches it is 160 feet. The walking bridge is 140 feet.

jrico01 · 09-28-2009, 04:39 PM

Added a few more details.

CraigFL · 09-29-2009, 05:48 AM

Looks good! Around here, it would have been an enormous problem dealing with all the codes required. I looked into it and the DEP would need to be involved because it crossed over a water flowage and numerous State & local bridge building codes would have to be met because cars cross it. You must be out in the rural area...

travelover · 09-29-2009, 10:32 AM

OK, I'll bite. Where did you get the stainless steel for the construction and why did you choose stainless steel?

Beautiful bridge, but the way.

Huh? · 09-29-2009, 03:19 PM

Beautiful. I had a neighbor along time ago that thought of putting something like that over the ditch on our drives so the kids could walk across. He ended up getting divorced and moving.