Bridge repair after flood? HELP!!!!

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katlamb

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We were affected by a pretty devastating flood around the first of April. It not only damaged the house and the land but it washed out the only access bridge to 4 families. We lost all of the bridge decking which was 4x6 treated lumber and the support washed out from under the concrete pier on one side of the bridge causing the concrete to fall into the creek. The concrete is still attached to the beams (in my case drilling pipes) We are trying to determine the best and least expensive way to repair this. The bridge spans 50 feet and with the decking it is 14 feet wide. Attached is a photo of the bridge in it's current condition.

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Welcome to the site.

I think you are going to need an engineer and you will be talking to the city engineers too or who ever is responsible for the road.
That does look like a mess. Have you the house back in living condition.
 
Best and least expencive is the way it was built before.
Any low head bridge like that is going to have issues in a flood.
An arched bridge would be less likly to be subjected to floating trash and Hydro pressure.
 
It's actually not as low as it looks, the reason it looks that low is because it fell, all of the support washed out on that one side and the creek was still in flood. It is actually 20+ feet from the creek up to the bottom of where the bridge once sat. I was told by the state that because the flood didn't actually damage the road at the encroachment that all of the repairs made to the road side will be our responsibility. We considered moving it to the lower end of our property where the creek widens out, but we will need something to cover a 60 foot span which is nearly impossible to find. There aren't many companies in the area that will sell to individuals so it looks like we are stuck. We have done what repairs we could to our house but can't go any farther until we get a bridge built back so that contractors can get over to the house.
We are considering buying gabion baskets for under and around the existing concrete, knocking the pipes loose from the concrete and using I beams between them and the baskets as support then pouring new concrete over the pipes, beams and baskets to lock it together. As of right now that seems to be the only solution.
Sadly my husband works for the state road department and because the governor issued a state of emergency he is not allowed to take off work until it is lifted. So we have been working on it as much as we can in the hour or so every evening that he comes home before dark. Plus it has rained nearly every day since the flood so the creek has been above normal level since. This has been one of the biggest nightmares of my life! Just trying to get some feedback on what would be the best way to repair this and it is impossible for us to get an engineer out since all of our daily income is going on actual repairs to the bridge and once it is complete I have to buy a new heat pump.
 
I’m assuming that guardrail and the mail boxes are about 3’ high. Judging by the scale of that in your photo it looks like the concrete on the road side dropped about 3’. We can’t tell what’s going on with the other side but it looks like that side is up higher. It looks like what’s holding up the road side is the pipes pushing back against the near side.

I am not an engineer but it looks like the footing on the road side was never deep enough to begin with.

I think the baskets are a great solution for future erosion but I don’t know about using them to support the bridge. I only see them used around here to build up a bank area and act as an erosion stop.

What are the other 3 families thoughts?
 
The road didn't drop any, it is slanted in a curve, the other 3 families are elderly and the bridge is on my property but we gave them use of it as well, none of them drive. I will post better pics this evening when I get home, maybe it will help explain it better. The concrete that is actually still attached is about 4 1/2 foot deep and at one time went all the way to the creek bed. This was just a major flood that brought whole trees (roots and all) down the creek.
 
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no pilings, just very large boulders, the actual piling washed out but the huge rocks that washed them out got stuck under the concrete which is the only thing holding it up out of the water.
 

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