Golf-Cart bridge

[Clevegar]

A GOLF-CART BRIDGE: Should it be designed as a pedestrian/Equestrian/Maintenance Vehicle Bridge, with pedestrian Live Load and H10 vehicular load, or should it be considered a vehicular bridge? What design loading/load combinations apply for this kind of structure, specifically as a short (~75LF) simple span, particularly the abutments? Do Caltrans or AASHTO address these?

 

[Qshake]

I'm not sure if Caltrans addresses these, however the usual AASHTO does not (aside from a mention of pedestrian live loads). However, several years ago, AASHTO published a supplemental standard "Guidelines for the Design of Pedestrian Bridges" which does help somewhat.

If you call around to the current suppliers of pedestrian bridges, you will find that they already include the various loadings (golf carts, maintenance vehicles, etc.) in their specifications. So that all you have to do is decide what's likely to transverse your bridge (often this is dictated by width as larger maintenance vehicles won't be able to access narrow golf cart bridges).

Present manufacturers that come to mind are Steadfast and Continental. Continental has a nice publication aimed at disclosing all load combinations and does so in a easy to interpret chart format ready for use by the engineer.