Since everyone here has so many good ideas.... I had a bridge built with a pre-stressed concrete deck. The builder had welding plates embedded in the concrete. I'd like to add some sort of timber railings. Any ideas for a design and/or how to attach them?

That looks really cool!

What about sinking some anchor bolts into it and mounting some tube steal that's only about 5-6" high...then sliding the posts for the railing into those?


Or you could buy some sonotubes and pour concrete posts...

Wrought(spelling?) Iron railing. White vinyl, cedar 6x6 post with big rope or chain connecting, they also make vinyl that look like wrought iron.. Just a couple thoughts

PS- all those are for looks and offerno safety from falling or driving off the side lol

Very well done, RobA.
That thing looks like you could drive semi's over it. You have a challenge to take some of the clinical highway look out of it and create some kinda natural woodsey look. I fear that any kind of metal or tubing might take it in the wrong direction. I think that chunky timber is the best move. Chunky (like 6 x 6 and larger) simply to play off of the concrete mass, and timber to soften the same concrete mass.

Great bridge... how big is it? Can you share a cost or budget that it required? I've got a creek crossing that could use a 15 to 20 foot span, but never checked out actually building a bridge, as I figured the price would be exhorbitant.

Just my 2cents...very nice bridge. Also I agree with Brettski.
You may want to "soften" the look with some wood. Possibly use
some versions like the pics below to slightly soften the look.
If you go with steel, I would think a dark color would be best.













Also another way to greatly soften the look if you ever so choose,
is you could make that bridge look like a "new-old" bridge by adding
the faux stone veneers over the face of the concrete like the
bridge shown below. There are tons of choices of the stone veneers
that could make that bridge look "old" in a cool way.

I don't know if you can weld onto those plates and not pop any of the concrete behind them. If you can, you could weld large pieces of square tubing on them, (10"-12" long), using the tubing as pockets for the upright timber posts. (sizing the tubing according to the size of upright posts you will be using.) Drill thru the tubing and thru the posts, bolting them together. Then build the railings from there.

The bridge deck is 12' wide, 16' long and 12" thick. I forget the weight capacity but it is rated the same as highway construction. Heavy equipment has already been over it and fully loaded concrete trucks are not a problem. The bridge provides access to my future house site. At about $13k it wasn't cheap buy I needed something that would not wash out and outlive me. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't too much more than a very well built/installed culvert with concrete wing walls.

The welding plates were installed by the company that made the pre-stressed decking and, since they are made for welding some sort of railing or brackets, should be OK.

I agree with the "woodsy look" and was thinking of using 6x6's for the uprights and railings (see drawing below). 1 concern I have is that the bridge is 12' wide. If I bolt the railings to the inside of the uprights (similar to Zep's 4th and 5th pictures) I will lose almost a foot of width. So it would make sense to attach the railings to the tops of vertical uprights which doesn't make for a great connection. I'm going to call a local welder/fabricator so get some ideas/quotes for brackets for the uprights and hardware to attach the railings.

wow....that was only $13K? when someone asked about cost I made a guess of about $18K-$20K.

6x6 lag bolted straight down into to the upright 6x6 will be very stout. If you want additional side railings, use 2x's on the inside and replace the tops with 8x's and offset to the inside so they will line up on the inside. The welding plates are on the outside so weld stud bolts onto them to anchor the posts.
Greg

You're on a good path with this plan, Rob. I think having some 1/4" thick connector plates (similar to Simpson connecting/mending plates, but much beefier)fabricated would add a nice visual touch if they were painted black, along with the exposed lag screw heads. If you are using 6 x 6 timbers, the plates would be something like 1/4" x 5" wide x 10" tall. Attach to the bottom half of the plate to the vert and the top half of the plate to the horz railing. Heck, if you can run the holes straight and perpendicular all the way thru the timbers, you could put identical matching plates at both sides of the railing structure and thru bolt them together. Paint black.

If you wanted a mid-height railing, you could cut a notch out of the upright and recess the horizontal mid rail into the upright, leaving the inside surface smooth.

this is a good idea; makes sense

The builder is an Amish guy who specializes in poured concrete walls. About 40% of the cost was for him to have the decking made and to use a crane to put it in place. I am comfortable in saying it is very well built and maybe even overbuilt.

Some good ideas here guys. Thanks. I especially like the idea of welding stud bolts to the plates.

Thanks for the budget information.... Sounds like you got a great deal to me... I would have thought more in the 25K range as a starting point for a bridge like that.