Thoughts for Large Creek Crossing?

[SCSwitchback]

Power poles and 2 x 6’s. Plenty strong enough for 4 wheeler or UTV. If you need it drive a small tractor across occasionally run some temporary stiff knees for extra support and then remove them when you finish so they won’t catch debris/etc

[centurian]

Need to do a similar project. Wanting to use three bar joist for the span. They seem very allusive though. When you don’t need them they are every where when you need them you can’t find them. Had four 8” steel beam we salvaged to use but when the guys brought them to the shop they were so corroded they weren’t worth hauling to the woods. Still looking. Built two with phone poles and first one washed out in flood the second rotted out to point it was scary to cross.

[dubs]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Have a connection to get poles so think we will try and go that route.

For those of you that have done a bridge with the poles, much of the poles were on solid ground on either side of the creek? I was thinking of trying to get as close to 10 feet of the poles on either side of the span as possible.

[TheVisorGuy]

Does the creek flood or come close? If so, I would put as much space between your decking boards as possible. Seems it would be less likely to get pushed up if there is a slight flood

I've got a spot on the little sandy that I would love to do a bridge but I've seen that area probably 6-8ft in water above where my bridge would be. I'm not sure anything I would do with my equipment that would keep it from floating away with that much water. Sometime during the summer you can drive across it and other times it seems like a bottomless pit. Little sandy splits two sides of that particular tract almost equally. Being able to cross would be a game changer while planting or doing other work related items. As it is now we have to load up and drive 15 mins around the the other side

[DJP]

Visor guy asked the most important question. The bridge design is important, but the behavior of the creek at the crossing is equally important. If it floods a lot the foundations will fail and the water or debris will take out the structure.

[Carolina Counsel]

VG and Jenks beat me to it. If this area floods- at all- you will lose your pole bridge unless you get it up above the high water line/bank.

[centurian]

We tied our poles off on the last pole bridge and spaced the planks two inches apart to create less drag when the creek floods. That helped and that bridge stayed in place until the poles rotted out.

[BigBrother]

Old pontoon boat. Use as a ferry.

[CUduckreeper]

For getting poles stretched across the creek you could attach a pulley to a tree on the other side and pull them across instead of trying to stand them up and drop them across.

[welltaut]

Does the creek flood or come close? If so, I would put as much space between your decking boards as possible. Seems it would be less likely to get pushed up if there is a slight flood

I've got a spot on the little sandy that I would love to do a bridge but I've seen that area probably 6-8ft in water above where my bridge would be. I'm not sure anything I would do with my equipment that would keep it from floating away with that much water. Sometime during the summer you can drive across it and other times it seems like a bottomless pit. Little sandy splits two sides of that particular tract almost equally. Being able to cross would be a game changer while planting or doing other work related items. As it is now we have to load up and drive 15 mins around the the other side

Anchor your telephone poles with concrete, cable, etc.....space your boards properly, and you should be able to keep any amount of water from moving/floating your bridge.

Mine made it through the 2015 flood, and many winter floods since then....it's been as much as 10-12' under water and hasn't budged. Takes some work though....certainly isn't a one man project.

[Catdaddy]

For getting poles stretched across the creek you could attach a pulley to a tree on the other side and pull them across instead of trying to stand them up and drop them across.

We used a winch. Ran them across and back with a turn buckle.

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

[dubs]

Yea, flooding is certainly a possibility. Ideally I wish we could get a semi flatbed down there as suggested by sportin but I think we would need a track hoe to pull it across to the other side and just don't see that being an option.

Welltaut, do you happen to have a picture of what you did to anchor or could you describe it? Might even be interested in seeing it in person if that is an option.

[SwampDecoy]

I bought New Telephone Poles from a Hardware Store in St. Matthews. They were 40' Long and delivered were $110.00. Used 5 of them. I found a place in Cottageville that sold/sells 8/4 Rough Cut Cypress 6" to 12" wide. The Bundle was apprx. 450sq.ft. and cost $400.00 Hand dug recess holes so poles were flush with "roadbed". Bought 6" Long Galvanized Nails and nailed it down. Have driven a 12,000# Loader over it.

[smitch320]

What's your budget

[Palmetto Bug]

It might be too heavy to get where you need it but I was thinking about a 40' shipping container with the back end cut out to make a covered bridge and a lockable gate on one end. Or cut the whole top off. Not really sure how rigid the deck of one would be with the top structure gone.

[Model12]

Ride around in the country and find an old abandoned single wide. Contact the owners, offer to tear it down and remove it for the frame.

BRILLIANT!!!!!

[dubs]

I bought New Telephone Poles from a Hardware Store in St. Matthews. They were 40' Long and delivered were $110.00. Used 5 of them. I found a place in Cottageville that sold/sells 8/4 Rough Cut Cypress 6" to 12" wide. The Bundle was apprx. 450sq.ft. and cost $400.00 Hand dug recess holes so poles were flush with "roadbed". Bought 6" Long Galvanized Nails and nailed it down. Have driven a 12,000# Loader over it.

Thanks for the info! What would you estimate the creek width to be where you did that?

[welltaut]

Yea, flooding is certainly a possibility. Ideally I wish we could get a semi flatbed down there as suggested by sportin but I think we would need a track hoe to pull it across to the other side and just don't see that being an option.

Welltaut, do you happen to have a picture of what you did to anchor or could you describe it? Might even be interested in seeing it in person if that is an option.

Previous owner of my property had built a bridge across this creek, but it kept getting swept down stream during the winter floods.
The only thing that remained were a couple of the longer telephone poles, which seemed kind of odd.
When we went to dig things out and make room to add more poles, I noticed they were cabled off to another piece of a telephone pole, which was burried 3' deep.
This "anchoring" might have been a little overkill, but it worked. No pictures of it, didn't think much about it at the time.
We then added poles, a lot of poles, because we needed to get some big equipment across the creek. Which we did.
You can see in the pics how much of the ends are burried in the dirt, they aren't going anywhere.

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[Duck Nitz]

If you run out of ideas:

[WhitewaterDuck]

My uncle had same issue in Mississippi on his farm. He put down a couple of big culverts to let the water flow through and built a bridge on top of them.