At my property I have a bridge that crosses a creek. I am guessing it is approximately 25' across and approx 7-8' wide. The bridge is made of railroad ties side by side with metal supports running the length of the bridge both above and below the railroad ties to hold them in place.

Well, the railroad ties are starting to decay and I need some way to reinforce it so a large tractor and shredder can cross the bridge safely without it caving in. I had considered running 2x12's across the span of the bridge and stacking them so they are 4" thick. Other option would be getting steel plate, maybe 1/8" thick, and laying them across the RR ties. This is mainly for weight distribution so a heavy load could cross safely. Thoughts or ideas?

Pic of bridge from several years ago....

No way to answer that without seeing how rotten the RR ties are.

The only answer that is not a patch will involve removing the cross ties. Anything put on top of them will be on a continuously deteriorating foundation. I would pull the top I beams and replace the cross ties one at a time with new ones. New not used. There’s a lot of other structural upgrades you could make during that process but that seems a minimum.

Good luck, obviously I’m not an engineer, thank goodness.

I'd just spray some heavy duty treatment on there and cover it with cattle panels. If you cover it with wood it will just trap moisture and cause to rot faster. Cattle panels are to the rancher what duct tape is to the rest of the world.

Cattle panels/duct tape.....hhhmmmm

LO at the ranch chose this route for the bridge across the creek.

It sounds like you're on a short timeline to get this done, so replacing all the ties at this time isn't an option. In that case you want something that is going to spread the load as much as possible. I don't dislike the plate option.

If you do have time, I would replace all the ties with new, and install either an I-brace (down the middle) or several X-braces for added strength.

I would weld drill stem from beam to beam like a cattle guard across the whole bridge. Would probably never have to worry about it again.

Been saving my used motor oil from the truck and slapping it on the fence to make it last longer.

Might buy you a couple more years, maybe try the Wytex method also.

Contact GUTIT on here. He will know what to do.

That sounds like a real repair that would last a long time.

Got some more pics today....about 3/4 of the RR ties are solid, the others are fairly rotten. I looked a little closer and there are 4 I-beams running the length of the bridge under the RR ties. It will be a ton of work to remove the top I-beam, and replace the RR ties. Would have to cut all the bolts holding them down. The drill stem option is out of the question...would take at least 500-600' of pipe and then have to hire someone to do it.






After seeing how well reinforced the RR ties are with the I-beams under them I will just get the 2x12's and stack them and run length-wise like in Wytex's pic. I bet that buys me at least another 5-6 years which might be all I need. My tractor guy was able to cross with his 15' batwing and 100 HP JD...he said it was close to 16,000 lbs.

I love throwing red neck engineering ideas.

Any chance to rebar above RR ties and pour concrete on top RR ties ?

If a Band-aid doesn't work Gutit has done a few bridges with old flatbed semi-trailers. I listed a property a few years ago that had an aluminum flat-bed trailer bridge that will be there forever.

Yes, I saw the one he did and posted before. It looked super nice.

We had an old bridge that we ran 2 x 12's lengthwise on to help spread the weight. Scary thinking about what we drove over that thing.

If you’re going to use boards be sure and cut them to offset the seams. That will make it much stronger. Think brick wall.

That’s assuming you will go at least two boards thick.

A 2 inch steel fiber reinforced 5000 lb concrete topping should have you fixed for a LONG time

I went to Elkhart, TX and bought milled post oak, two months ago.

They made it full 2" thick per my request.

2" X 8" X 16'....38 count
2" X 8" X 10'.....12 count

$800




I should have taken a heavier duty trailer.