Looking at the past to see the future...

With the actual construction of bridge #4 for the Village of South Wayne now under way I though it might be a good idea to share with the readers some pictures of the past bridges.

Seeing the end product of all this detailed planning, model building, problem solving etc. will hopefully help keep the interest high as Bruce, Alex, other South Wayne community members and myself work together to build a "Bridge to the Future" for the Village of South Wayne, WI.

Come along with us, for the next few months, on the educational journey of a lifetime. We welcome your comments and feedback. Let us know what you "think" and "feel" about this project and 21st Century education by posting a comment or two.

Remember, "Crossing a bridge in your future will be a bit easier after you have built one or two."

Bridge #1 - A 44 foot long bridge (private owner in Darlington, WI). Side truss pieces are 6" x 6" pine timbers. Materials cost around $16,000 weight 28,000 pounds. Built during the 2003-2004 school year with three Darlington High School students. (Note: you can see my Dodge Ram truck parked in the middle.)

 Portal view of Bridge #1 with a 10 foot wide 2"x 8" Oak plank deck.

Side view of bridge #1 showing support system for stringers below deck.

Bridge #2 - A 24 foot bridge at 70% scale of bridge #1 design using 4.25" x 4.25" pine for side truss pieces (for the city of Darlington, WI ) . For pedestrian traffic only. Materials cost around $6000 weight 12,000 pounds. Built by 5 Darlington High School students in the 2004 - 2005 school year.

Bridge #3 - A 24 foot long bridge using 6"x 8" pine vertical posts and 5"x 5" cross bucks. All mortise and tennon joinery held together with wooden pegs (for the city of Darlington, WI ). For pedestrian traffic only. Materials cost around $4,000 weight 15,000 pounds. Built jointly by 2 Darlington Middle School students, 1 Darlington High School student and the first year UW Platteville Engineering students of UW - professor Ali Olclay in the school year 2006 - 2007.

Coming soon... Bridge #4 - A 32 foot long Town Lattice Truss using ...