Trails Unlimited

Projects

New Construction

South Carolina on the Francis, Marion and Sumter National Forest, Enoree Ranger District, November, 2004

Arch Culvert Installation

Notice the rock armoring on the ingress and egress of the culverts.

Establishing the crossing and installing an arch culvert.

Compacting and armoring an arch culvert crossing.

A finished arch culvert.

A finished arch culvert with a trail leading to a road crossing.

A finished arch culvert with a trail leading to a road crossing.

Installing Bridges

Thirteen bridges were installed ranging from fifteen to forty feet in length. Because of the fiberglass construction, they were easily moved onto each site with the use of ATV’s and a rear skid. Also, notice the abutment construction, no concrete needed. The abutment design consists of road base (3/4” minus/crusher run), heavy rubber parking bumpers, duck bill anchors, and a fiberglass plate. These bridges can hold a total of 10,000 lbs of live weight as demonstrated with the SWECO crossing the forty foot bridge. Total deflection was only 3/4 inch.

Establishing and excavating for a bridge abutment.

Unloading road base for an abutment.

Bumpers being installed and filled with road base.

Compacted road base with bumpers and duck bill anchors in place.

Installing fiberglass plates.

Installing trusses.

Bolting trusses in place atop of fiberglass plate.

Bolting trusses to fiberglass plate.

Installing cross braces.

Planks installed and ready for turf block installation (see turf block installation).

A finished 20-foot bridge.

Installing duck bill anchors for a 40-foot bridge.

Compacting behind duck bill anchors.

Bolting 40-foot trusses.

40-foot bridge, notice the pre built arch.

40-foot bridge constructed and being brought over the stream crossing.

Using a come-a-long and high line to swing a 40-foot bridge into place.

10,000 pound tractor on 40-foot bridge.

10,000 pound tractor on 40-foot bridge.

A finished 40-foot bridge.

Installing Turf Block

Turf block was installed at each entrance and exit of the bridges in order to improve the transition from the trail to the bridge and vice versa. Excessive wear will occur when a trail has an abrupt change in the hardness of the trail tread surface. Notice the anchoring and the decreasing grade of the block as it approaches the bridge thus allowing for a smooth transition.

Prepping transition for block placement.

Laying the turf block.

Beginning to fill and compact the turf block.

Beginning to fill and compact the turf block.

Finished compacting and starting to reach final grade.

Finished compacting and starting to reach final grade.

Finished transition after one season.

Trail Construction

The use of natural breaks in grade is used whenever possible allowing for minimal future trail maintenance and offers a “flow” to the trail system maximizing the experience for the user.

After one season.

A “problem area” during construction. The area was over saturated but with proper ditching and elevating and drainage, no longer a problem after a season.

US Forest Service - Trails Unlimited Enterprise Unit
Last Modified: Friday, 07 April 2006 at 15:03:40 EDT