Help-Rustic bridges on golf courses and more!

[Randy Thompson]

Doing a course in the Patagonia in Argentina and in a very ecological area. To give you an idea how ecological, the supermarkets have no bags, you bring your own sack or carry out what you buy. Anyways, it will be walking only and the routing crosses a stream several times. The course will be open for seven months out of the year and is connected with a ski resort. The routing takes you through parts of a huge forest with 150 foot trees and super thick trunks.The stream is loaded with huge rocks. I was thinking on using slabs from the trees and placing them on big rocks to cross the stream. during the off season the slabs could be removed in case the stream turns into a river which it does on occasions. Probally will need to construct gabbions for support base on each side. Anybody got any pictures of crude - rustic bridges to also consider? The client is also looking for pictures of courses with similar terrain for the web site. I would think maybe something in canada or colorado, Oregon, Washington. any suggestions here would help also! Thanks!

[Mike Nuzzo]

If so environmental, why are you crossing the creek several times?
Post a routing please - I'm longing to see some new course work.
Cheers

[Jim_Kennedy]

Here's a thread with quite a few ideas. What's it like working at the end of the earth?

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41169.0.html

[Randy Thompson]

If so environmental, why are you crossing the creek several times?
Post a routing please - I'm longing to see some new course work.
Cheers

Mike
I know it kind of funny, we will end up having to remove enough trees to suppy the entire country with sacks for the supermarkets for five years! Acutally you have asked a good question and deserve a serious answer. Because it is associated with a development and there are twenty meter set back lines for building houses next to the stream. So when you multiply that by the two sides and a maybe three kilometers at least the length of the stream it amounts to significant area not suited for housing but suited for golf, so the devlopers asked that we use as much of that for golf. Will try to post a a basic routing tonight, the rendering is in the process of being fabricated. I think we have used a little more than about 40 ha. and there are some tight areas and the developer is still lookinng for reductions and it maybe reduced from  a par 72 to 71 get a few more square meters.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Randy,

Rustic bridges are the way to go – cheap and quick construct but they will need to be maintained on a regular basis and occasionly repaired. A few of my golf courses have rustic bridges, some using round timber as main structural members and rock foundations – I’ve even constructed the good old stone arch bridges. If you want a removable bridge then a pallet bridge  can do the job for a short span.

The obvious questions if you want to calculate the bridges are strong enough but not overbuilt are:
–   what clear spans are you talking about
–   what are the strength of materials involved (quality of the timber)
–   how much freeboard will you have (distance between high water and the soffit of the bridge deck)
–   what kind of loads are they expected to carry, particularly snow loads in winter.
–   Also don’t forget the planning regulations and insurance considerations with respect to safety.
 
This photo shows a bridge spanning a total of about 35m made up of 2 clears spans of 15m with a central island. The main members are two timber logs from a local forest.



I’ve some pictures of my courses in Switzerland, some of which are close to ski resorts, that may correspond to your Patagonian project. If you are interested you can email me.

John

[Mike Nuzzo]

Thank you Randy
That makes sense
Good luck
Mike

[Randy Thompson]

The project has its twin but it on more of a drainage ditch. Looking for something like this but on a larger scale.

[Randy Thompson]

Randy,

Rustic bridges are the way to go – cheap and quick construct but they will need to be maintained on a regular basis and occasionly repaired. A few of my golf courses have rustic bridges, some using round timber as main structural members and rock foundations – I’ve even constructed the good old stone arch bridges. If you want a removable bridge then a pallet bridge  can do the job for a short span.

The obvious questions if you want to calculate the bridges are strong enough but not overbuilt are:
–   what clear spans are you talking about
–   what are the strength of materials involved (quality of the timber)
–   how much freeboard will you have (distance between high water and the soffit of the bridge deck)
–   what kind of loads are they expected to carry, particularly snow loads in winter.
–   Also don’t forget the planning regulations and insurance considerations with respect to safety.
 
This photo shows a bridge spanning a total of about 35m made up of 2 clears spans of 15m with a central island. The main members are two timber logs from a local forest.



I’ve some pictures of my courses in Switzerland, some of which are close to ski resorts, that may correspond to your Patagonian project. If you are interested you can email me.

John

John,
Thanks for your help and would love to see some pictures from some of your courses or other courses in the area. my email is agolf@chilesat.net

[Bruce Leland]

Randy:  While it doesn't specifically address your questions this link will take you to a very informative presentation about some of the "siting" considerations for bridges.  The author is a US Forest Service Engineer who has been involved in hundreds of remote and wilderness crossings.  There is a link in the slide deck to different suppliers of bridges and bridge materials

www.fs.fed.us/eng/bridges/documents/tdbp/siting.ppt

if you are considering using native materials, you might consider browsing www.fbo.gov for solicitations that the USFS has out for "stringer" puncheon or timber bridges.  Many times they post their design criteria in the solicitation.  If those searches don't yield anything email me at pedbridges@gmail.com and I will see what I can turn up.