Build Your Own Bridge

By Larry Walton

A bridge is one of those things that are often taken for granted until you don’t have one, especially if you live on a rural property and there’s a creek between your house and the county road. Jon Ford had plans to build a new bridge along with building a new house on his property, but plans for the bridge were made top priority when a wayward truck carried too much weight over the old bridge and it collapsed.

Red Tape

Most bridge builds require considerable planning, especially when it is located over a waterway that is under the jurisdiction of several different government agencies. It doesn’t have to be a significant river for several governing bodies to claim control over the rights to build any kind of structure near the waterway. There are agencies that regulate flood control, water quality, fish habitat, etc., and each one of these agency’s regulations must be satisfied before the project can proceed.

Jon had to file a riparian landscape plan, file an application with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, deal with an agency called the National Marine Fisheries Service, submit a fish passage plan, get the approval of the Department of Forestry, and deal with the County Planning and Development Department. He had to certify a base flood elevation and hire an engineer to draw up the bridge plans as required by the County.

The local Fire District also got involved by requiring that the bridge hold a loaded fire truck (weighing 50,000 lbs.), that the approach angles to the bridge be within specifications, and that a turnaround was provided on the other side of the bridge. Ford already had plans to engineer the bridge to handle a 75,000-lb. loaded concrete truck for the construction of the house, so he made sure the other fire-related requirements were factored into the driveway plans as well.

Also added to the government agencies was FEMA, which presented an inaccurate map showing that the entire property was in the flood plain. Part of Ford’s permitting process was getting the map amended to reflect that his property was indeed not under water.

A variety of agencies meant a variety of concerns ranging from impact on water quality, on fish migration, on flood mitigation and on vegetation frustration. Just when Ford thought all the bases were covered, one of the agents decided that they would need a 20-foot bridge, which was a big change to what everyone had said all along would be a 15-foot bridge. That additional length of the bridge had potential to add thousands to the cost of the bridge in engineering costs, added materials and stronger beams.

The main components of Ford’s bridge includes [1] concrete abutment, [2] steel I-beams, [3] pressure-treated 4×12 stringers, [4]pressure-treated 4×12 decking, [5] pressure-treated 2×12 runners and [6] pressure-treated 4×6 curbs.

Admittedly, there are good reasons for many of these regulations. In fact, I live downstream from the property, so my interest in protecting our stream was more than just a passing curiosity. I wouldn’t want it dammed up or contaminated and I certainly wouldn’t want to see his new bridge coming my way in the event of a record-breaking flood.