New Bridge Installed

 

 

Assembled bridge frame at The Shack

This was the assembled bridge frame. The side beams had to be taken off for transportation.  This 40 foot long bridge is heavy and well built. The tractor could only lift one end at a time. A 28 foot trailer was used to haul it out to the site.

 

 

The two beams that were left from the old bridge were removed. The crew prepared the site with new footings to hold the new bridge. These four guys worked hard to make sure everything was right. Some digging and thinking went into it, as you can see in the pictures.

 

BROUGHT OUT TO THE SITE

 

The bridge arrived at the site in the late afternoon. The tractor was brought out to unload the bridge from the trailer. It was getting dark when we finished.

The bridge now needs to be assembled again. Everything has to be tightened and braced for the lift over the creek and the install.

 

SETTING BRIDGE IN PLACE

 

   

 

Next came the best tool yet to place the bridge over the creek. We got a crane to lift the bridge into place. The bridge was lifted and moved forward toward the creek. Remember the tractor could only lift one end of the bridge. The crane had weighted it around 10,000 lbs. and this is without decking on it yet. It only took 15 to 20 minutes to place the bridge on the footings. And the footings were spot on.    THANK YOU   Met Con Companies for the use of the crane.

 

PLACING THE DECKING

 

 

After we got the bridge set and backfilled, we decided to set planks on for the decking. Everyone there was excited to have gotten this far with the project.

 

INSTALLING DECKING AND RAILING

 

Two days later the crew decide to install the decking and railing on the bridge. We were short two pieces of boards for railing which Dave finished up later in the day. Ramps will have to be built out of dirt or gravel at each end of the bridge. Then it will be ready for crossing with groomer and snowmobiles.

Thank you goes out to all the volunteers , from getting metal to installing bridge and everything between.

Dale D, Joe S, Larry S, Dave S, Jim S, Travis B, Jerry V, Randy F, Randy V, and others .