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If you can't get there from here, then maybe you ought to be studying up on how to build your own thoroughfare. These links should help design, build and maintain your project. .

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Navy Builder Manual 3 & 2, Volume 1 (9.92 megabyte PDF file) Volume 2 (8.99 megabyte PDF file) & Advanced (15.68 megabyte PDF file) This self-study course is organized into subject matter areas, each containing learning objectives to help you determine what you should learn along with text and illustrations to help you understand the information. The contents of the three Navy Seabee "Builder" Manuals Cover virtually everything I have seen, and more. I highly recommend them.

Road

Earth Moving Road-building does not require giant tractors and earth movers. The grader described here was used for dirt and gravel roads in the midwestern United States in the 1920s. Similar graders were used in the original construction of U.S. Highway No. 1 from Maine to Florida. Also includes scrapers, floats, harness and yokes.

UNDERSTANDING LOW-COST ROAD BUILDING By Joe Barcomb & David K. Blythe. Roads vary from trails to major hard-surface highways. Depending on the local climate and materials available for construction, roads may sometimes be open to traffic for only part of the year. A year-round road is often more expensive to build, and may not always be necessary. As a general rule, road construction in rural areas can be done at relatively low cost because, compared to city roads, fewer people and vehicles travel on rural roads. However, rural roads must be well designed, properly constructed, and continually maintained.

How to maintain a dirt road by Marjorie Burris Mother Earth News Issue 48 It is our job to maintain two and one half miles of dirt road if we want to get into our property. We are completely surrounded by forest service land, and we have an agreement with the forest service to maintain one mile of the road. However, when we reminded the forest service the other mile and a half needed maintenance, too, they answered us in a tone that brooked of no appeal: “We don’t like you living in the middle of the forest; you are the only family at the end of that road; it costs us too much to maintain that road for one family; therefore, it is up to you to keep that road open. We call it your road anyway.”

Roman Roads The Romans were famous for their roads, and this page describes how Roman roads were built, and how you could use the topic in the classroom.

Construction and Makeup of Roman Roads The ancient Romans had a good system of roads, one which required systematic planning and maintenance. This project will look not at the layout of the roads of ancient Rome, but at their construction and makeup.

How Early Roads Were Built Building a road involved simple technology and heavy labor. The first task, to clear the road, was usually the most difficult. Stumps, boulders, brush and trees had to be cleared. Usually, this was done entirely by hand or with the help of horses. It was not until the construction of the Erie Canal that an ingenious workman invented a stump-puller; using this device, seven men and a team of horses could pull forty stumps in a day. Considering the density of forest through which many roads ran, even this was slow progress indeed.

BBC - h2g2 - Roman Roads and Bridges Among their many achievements was the development of well-designed roads and bridges, which allowed the Romans to conquer new territories and establish successful trade routes, as well as providing a way for people to travel easily throughout the Empire.

How to maintain a dirt road In our 25 years of maintaining a dirt road, we have found that, whether you use hand tools or heavy machinery, there are three main objectives: control the flow of water around the road, remove obstacles, and fill in the ruts — usually in that order.

Road Preconstruction Handbook. Go here first & print out a copy of the screen page to get a table of contents description. Then click link to get the ftp site http://www.fs.fed.us/im/directives/fsh/7709.56 and, referencing the printed page, click on the section you want to view.

Aggregates & Roadbuilding Magazine Resource Library - Probably too technical for most folks.

VDOT: How a Road is Built

Aggregates & Roadbuilding Magazine Canada's “Rock to Road”Magazine Resource Library

Bridge

(Build a) Suspension Bridge (for aiding new swimmers): Excerpt from the: "The Outdoor Handy Book... for Playground, Field & Forest" By D.C. Beard, 1914; Chapter XXIII

Bridges UNDERSTANDING SMALL-SCALE BRIDGE BUILDING By Robert J. Commins. There are four basic types of free-standing bridges: beam, arch, truss, and suspension. In addition, pontoon bridges, which actually float on the surface of the water, are used in some situations. While all bridges are built from the basic structural units of bending, tension, and compression members, the design of suspension and pontoon bridges is highly specialized and their construction is usually too costly for small-scale applications. This paper, then, limits its discussion to beam, arch, and truss bridges.

Geometry of Bridge Construction The Romans' legacy to bridge building was the heavy masonry arch bridge, hundreds of which were built throughout Europe. In this, large stone blocks were wedged against each other to form an arch. The central stone at the top of the arch was known as the keystone. The finest surviving example of such a bridge is the Pons Fabricius in Rome.

Roman Engineers: Roman Bridges and Bridge Building The Romans gained much of their engineering skill from the Etruscans. From them, the Romans learned the use of the keystone arch, which enabled them to build extremely strong and durable bridges.

Bridge Building

Building Model Bridges Following the Engineering Process by Joe Lewis. Upon completion of this unit, the students will be able to: (1) identify the engineering principles behind bridge building; (2) identify different types of bridges; (3) become aware of a process outlining how bridges are designed and built; (4) understand some of the physics important for designing, building and using bridges (5) understand some of the preliminary events that takes place before construction, and finally (6) draw and build a bridge according to specification using the principles of engineering. The second section of the unit will discuss the engineering process in bridge design. The engineering process can be broken down into eight simple steps: (1) identifying the problem; (2) determining the constraints; (3) designing the bridge; (4) analyzing the design; (5) refining the design; (6) implementing the plan; (7) modifying the plan of implementation, and; (8) building the bridge based on modifications. The data that engineers need in order to design the bridge will also be covered in this section.

The four kinds of bridges and some combinations There's alot more here than first meets the eye.

Building a Rope Bridge A rope bridge is a great way to learn a few knots and have fun while you do it. The project that is described here can be put together in 30-45 minutes.

Free plans for (Rainbow Bridge) bridges with the following spans:
8½ ft. with instructions 10 ft. 15 ft. 20 ft.
Old Exploded View New Exploded View
3D Animations
1 (326KB) 2 (290KB) 3 (425KB) 4 (440KB) 5 (370KB)

American Railroad Bridges—by Theodore Cooper Given to the American Society of Engineers—1889

Bridge Strains for Concentrated Loading-Simple Truss—by Theodore Cooper Prepared for Publication by Ward Baldwin, C.E., Asst. Prin. Engr.-C. N. O. & T. P. Ry.—1889

Bridge Strains for Concentrated Loading-Simple Girder—by Theodore Cooper Prepared for Publication by Ward Baldwin, C.E., Asst. Prin. Engr.-C. N. O. & T. P. Ry.—1889

The Bridge Over Catskill Creek—N.Y., W.S., & B. RR

The Poughkeepsie Bridge... From Beginning to End

Brooklyn Bridge and its Railway

The Fall of a Bridge at Cornwall, Ont.

The Albany Railroad Bridge—1866

Hell Gate Bridge

Building Model Bridges Following the Engineering Process

Art and Science of Bridge Building

ThinkQuest - History of Bridges

History of Bridges 1

History of Bridges 2

Bridgepros - Engineering, History & Construction of Bridges

American Local History Network: History of Bridges

HGTV - Bridges

howstuffworks - How Bridges Work

Fun & Learning About Bridges

The Basic Bridge Types

Nova - Build A Bridge

Hastings & Prince Edward District School Board - Bridges

Bridges - Design Technology

BridgeSite Software

Build Your Own Bridge

Bridge Building

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