October 10, 2009
A group of ten volunteers decked over 4 bridges on Corridor 11. Most of the crew had built bridges in the past so they functioned like a well-oiled machine. One of our volunteers, Mike Anderson had some prior welding experienced so he was tapped to blow holes in the steel beams so stringers could be bolted down. He was assisted by our Trail Master Bryan MacDonald.
While the welding operation was progress, the rest of the crew focused on building wooden bridges with 6" x 6" beams. The crew was able to put together a 16' bridge complete with runners in less than one hour. Of course it helped a lot that all of the materials had been previously dragged out to the site and were sitting there just waiting to be put into place. Here are some pictures courtesy of John Higgins of our crew in action.
Eric Johnson and Roger Richard head out of the woods with some extra planks at the end of a long day.
Eric Johnson looks on while Roger Richard reloads the Paslode gun. Steve Uzdanovich is in the background.
The first bridge is done in less than one hour. Roger loads up the tools with the help of Mike Gentili.
The second bridge is a steel bridge. Mike Anderson stands between two beams cutting holes with a torch. Other crew members start bolting stringers to the beams in preparation for the decking process.
The decking process gets underway for our second bridge.
Larry nails down the decking while Eric and Roger line up some of the decking.
By bridge four, the crew is used to "walking-the-beams" and a 26' deck is put down in less than ten minutes.
