Building Problem Number One

So the first step to making the project of building a new place is the overcome the fact that we need to be able to drive a 60,000 pound cement truck and well drilling truck over a 90 year old concrete bridge.

The problem with this is there is no way to tell if that bridge can even hold a 20,000 pound truck. Oh, and if the bridge would collapse the DNR would not allow for it to be rebuilt. So the question ended up to be how do we build a bridge that will hold the weight without putting any weight on the old existing bridge.

The ideas consisted of rail road ties, sheets of steel, I-Beams, A helicopter (yeah right), possible a cool jump? Months and months go by trying to figure out how to pull it off until Yard King of Cadillac, MI came through to tell us about a bridge that they make for the U.S Military that many people have purchased for exactly the same reason we need it. So after some discussing and some awesome cooperation from a couple different families on our road we decided to buy a bridge to go over the old concrete bridge.

One great advantage to this new bridge is now the fire department can drive their big water tankers over it in the terrible case of a fire near one of the homes on the road. (Which we learned they wouldn't cross it with those trucks a couple years ago when a down power line started a brush fire. Scary!)

Obviously our bridge will be colored different but these are some examples of what it will be looking like.

There will be a lot of work to come to get the ground packed enough to support it but it will be a great improvement to the road.

(Pictures coming soon of bridge that will be on our road.)