Joey Weigel, a local businessman contacted me in the hallway at the beginning of the 06-07 school year. He asked if I might have any students that would be interested in a covered bridge project he had in mind. I said, I would check. I’m thinking a covered bridge for his yard, 10-15 footer. Two weeks later we met in the wood shop and he shows me a Xerox picture from a painting in his office. Then he tells me the bridge is for his cabin. It would be just like the picture, slanted out walls and ends, 28 feet long and 10 feet wide made out of rough sawn 6” by 6” pine timbers. By the time his words got through my ears and into my brain my eyes were bugging out. We began laying out 14 foot 2x4’s on the shop floor to gage the width and height size proportions. We didn’t want it to look like a wiener dog!

The picture below is what was used as a guide

	We took a drive just out of town to the cabin to see the bridge site. Unbelievable! Four thousand square feet, with a four-story elevator! The “cabin” was awesome. It was back in the woods and had a million dollar view. I said OK we’re in. This would be a lot of hard work but, the chance of a lifetime for my students.
	We began making drawings and scale models out of 1/4” foam core board. Within a week the bridge had grown to 32’ and then 44’ in length. Serious plans were being drawn on the CAD program and material estimates put together. We locked in the gen-eral overall sizes and started making a 1/4 scale model of the bridge using 2x2’s for the 6x6 pine timbers
To handle the challenge presented by the 11 degree slant of the walls and X wall mem-bers we made giant miter boxes to guide our timber frame beam saw.
	This made cutting through the 6x6’s in one pass repeatable. We also made miter boxes to guide the cuts required for the truss members.
	In the end this worked so well that we could have used anyone to cut the pieces.
While all the jig building was going on the students were outside behind the shop laying and leveling 4x4’s as a building base.
	2x12’s were placed and assembly of the supporting beams being laminated together began.
There would be 5 beams under the 2-1/4” by 8” Oak plank deck boards. Each beam would weigh 1,000 pounds and cost $500! The students realized this was serious busi-ness.
With the deck done and several wall members cut the process of drilling and assem-bling the timbers began.
All the timber was fresh cut and sawn the week before we got it. So green in fact, that when you sawed it the moisture actually flew up in a mist! Each 12 foot 6x6 weighed 80 pounds. Handling these was tricky and we had to use our heads. We worked smarter, not harder
	It was late into the evening but on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006 we put up the first two wall sections. These were braced and tied together and we were in business.  It looked sweet!
	While the walls were going up we were cutting  the truss members.
Soon there was enough deck space that we could layout blocks for a jig to assemble trusses.
Twenty-three trusses would be required.
Next we went to work building the rake ends of the gable. These were tricky as they ta-pered out from 16”  at the eave to 32” at the peak. Cutting lookouts at compound angles and notching trusses to cantilever some of them was a challenge. Model building saved a lot of wood here!

With the gable end units assembled we were ready for the boom-truck to come in and set the trusses.
We had an “in school field-trip” that day and the students worked all day and got the job  done in 6 hours.
	One inch rough sawn pine boards were used on the roof for aesthetic reasons. After applying them we shingled and made three copulas to add a little piazzas to it.
	The copulas will be put on after the bridge has made it through town and under all the wires.
Final height on the trailer was 20’ and the crane operator said it weighed in at 28,000 pounds.
As placed on the abutments the span was 38 feet  and it sagged about 2-3 inches.
The center of the bridge was jacked up for a 1-2 inch crown and knee braces were in-stalled reducing the span to 20’. As a final step tension rods, anchored to the main beams will be installed spanning this 20’. It will truly be “load worthy.”
The final bridge bracing that was done.	The knee braces and then the 1" truss rods on each side

L-R   Jordan Torstenson ,  Jerred Jacobsen ,  Tim Houtakker

Several students in the other Woods Technology Building Trades classes contributed help from time to time in the final construction of this project but, the three students pictured above took on and accepted full responsibility for this project and it’s construction. Cost of materials for this bridge, $16,169. Donation to the program by owner, one 16” Beam Saw and cordless Paslode framing nailer. Cost of this experience, PRICELESS! I know that as my students grow and travel, sooner or later in life, like all of us, they will have to cross a bridge or two, that should not be a problem for these three.

If you would like us to build a bridge like this or other unique project for you contact - Dick Anderson - P.E.O. (Provider of Educational Opportunities) Darlington High School, Darlington, Wisconsin andersonr@darlington.k12.wi.us

Some interesting sites that you might enjoy
 
 

	The Covered Bridges of New Brunswick
	The Covered Bridges of Nova Scotia.
	Jerry Barnes' Garden Railway, The SCRR
	Visit Lonnie Hedgepeth's of Rocky Mount, North Carolina site. He has used the plans provided on my web page and is building a Covered Bridge for his Live Steam train.
	Julie and her father Gary built a model bridge using the plans on my Covered Bridge site for a school project
	The Minas View Golf Links Golfing with a difference
	Historic Aircraft Pictures
	Where we live and what we do
Over 10,000 Pictures of old cars	John's Old Car and Truck Pictures

 

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