Trail Bridge Design Criteria? 1

• Sep 16, 2003

• #2

SlideRuleEra

Structural

Jun 2, 2003

5,527

US

I did some preliminary work about 6 years ago on a group of railroad bridges that were planned for conversion to a hiking trail (the Rails to Trails program). At that time we could not locate any formal standards. There was a non-technical book that described some successful conversions, but I don't recall the title or author. We did our preliminary designs using engineering judgement based on accepted standards, such as AISC. Lack of funding caused a dramatic reduction in scope of the project (the trail was established, but the bridges were not converted).

 

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• Sep 16, 2003

• #3

wiktor

Structural

Apr 11, 2002

232

US

Trail bridges could be classified also as pedestrian or briddle path bridges. These should be designed for the pedestrian loads (AASHTO) and checked for occasional light vehicle (maintenance, emergencies, deliveries). The vehicle loads should be limited to the type of load which the bridge would likely support. The typical specification could be seen here:

http://www.continentalbridge.com/assets/pdf/spec.pdf

 

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• Sep 16, 2003

• #4

bridgebuster

Active member

Jun 27, 1999

3,970

US

As a follow-up to Wiktor's post, look at the AASHTO Guide Spec for Pedestrian Bridges

 

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• Sep 23, 2003

1
• #5

manual90

Structural

Mar 11, 2002

19

US

I think the best information on timber trail bridges can be found through the US Forest service:

http://www.fs.fed.us/na/wit/

At minimum, you will probably want to look at the trail bridge catalog:

http://www.fs.fed.us/na/wit/WITPages/bridgecatalog/

And their free publication on Timber Bridges: Design, Construction, Inspection and Maintenance:

http://spfnic.fs.fed.us/wit/WITpubs/Pubs.cfm

 

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• Sep 23, 2003

• Thread starter
• #6

jheidt2543

Civil/Environmental

Sep 23, 2001

1,469

US

Thanks for all the good input!

 

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