Blomberg Bridge Project

In 2017, Blomberg Bridge was widened from 6' to 8' and new 4x6 decking was installed.

 

A special thanks to Gail & David Nelson and Paul Gabriel who spent 2 days to complete this project, Scot Bromann who secured the steel and provided the welder/generator for the project, and the Rib Lake Ski & Snowshoe Club for support and funding.

 

Before the project - 6' wide:

The is the bridge before we started.  The ramp leading up to the bridge was not changed during the project.  In this picture, the steel trestles are "inside" the ramp.

 

 

 

Old Decking Removed:

 

 

 

Widening the Bridge:

Nine angle iron cross members were cut to "separate" the trestles.  Then a weld at each end of the trestle that connected it to the support beams were cut. 

 

At the far end of the bridge, David is pounding the trestle with a sledge hammer to move it out.  Paul is in the Bobcat with a boom connected to the top of the trestle to keep it upright.  The bucket of the orange tractor is supporting the trestle so it cannot tip "out".  There is wood blocking supporting the cut angle iron so the trestle cannot tip "in".  We also clamped steel around 2 of the cut angle irons to keep the 2 halves of the bridge aligned.

 

At first the trestle would not move.  We found one of the cross members was not cut completely thru.  After cutting that cross member, the trestle moved out very easily.

 

We repeated the same process to move the other trestle, and then welded new angle iron in place to reconnect the nine angle iron cross members that were cut, and welded the trestles to the beams.  Then we welded in a second center support the length of the bridge to support the new decking.

 

 

 

8' Wide:

The is the bridge after it was widened to 8'.  The ramp leading up to the bridge was not changed during the project.  In this picture, the steel trestles are now "outside" of the ramp.

 

 

 

Project complete:

The new decking was installed and the decking and ramp were stained.  New signs were installed to complete the project.

 

 

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