Rebuilding a bridge

Several years ago, my uncle built a bridge over a stream on property that he owned. The bridge was used for about 30 years. Originally built from rough cut timbers the bridge was succumbing to the ravages of time and showing signs of crumbling. As seen in the pictures below, the wood was rotting and the foundation was being undercut by the stream. In order for the bridge to last, it must be rebuilt to stand the test of time.

As you can see from the pictures, the top deck of the bridge has weathered badly. The deck timbers are one by six by twelve feet spanned across 20 foot by one by ten timber runners. During the inspection, one could see that the timbers were in pretty good shape. One or two of them had some weather damage and may be candidates for replacement. I wanted to ensure that if possible, during my lifetime, I wouldn't have to replace the timbers or top deck because of weathering.

The first step in the restoration was to shore up the foundation. The original foundation has held up pretty well for 30 years of spring flooding but could be built up to prevent undercutting. Prior to putting any cement down, a plan was devised so as not to harm the natural river habitat. The plan entailed a diversion dam so that no silt would get into the river.

The part of the foundation that was not in the river was the first to be repaired. First things first was to gather some rocks that could be used to strengthen and take up some of the space of the cement so I didn't have to fill such a big void with only cement.

The next thing was to create the forms out of discarded chip-board and use stakes to hold the forms. Because the cement was mixed by hand it took forever to fill the forms. As the batches were mixed and the forms filled, more forms were put up and filled. You can see in the next pictures two of the forms were filled.