Bridge Builders™ is the recognized leader across the United States in the innovative construction of custom timber vehicular bridges, public access boardwalk complexes, and light duty bridges for public trails and golf courses. In business more than twenty-five years, Bridge Builders™ has completed over a thousand installations on commercial and residential developments, park, recreational and golf course projects for a diverse clientele who endorse and recommend our company for outstanding performance and excellent quality. Twenty-five years of setting the standard for excellence in service, quality, and integrity for the timber bridge industry. We specialize in custom timber vehicular bridges built to AASHTO specifications for HS 20-44 or greater, backed by our fifteen year structural warranty. Our proven Concept to Completion© formula provides for all your timber bridge requirements, including public access boardwalk complexes, pedestrian bridges, light duty bridges for golf courses and public trails, and our custom vehicular bridges. Our timber bridges offer a cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing alternative to the impersonal feel of concrete or steel bridges and unsightly culverts. Concept to Completion©: Our proven forumla simplifies the lifecycle of your project. Our team of professionals responsible for design, engineering, management, and the highest quality of workmanship by our crews, will ensure the timely and cost-effective completion of your project. Twenty-five years ago, Bridge Builders spearheaded design solutions for the timber bridge industry by developing an accelerated construction method whereby we can build bridges in wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas with minimal impact to the environment. The result: our bridges fit beautifully in their natural settings and are installed in a manner which helps to preserve some of our nations prime environmentally sensitive areas and wetlands. Our attention to excellence in service, quality, and integrity for the timber bridge industry sets us apart from our competitors, like York Bridge Concepts Inc, as the premiere provider of timber bridge construction. York bridge, york bridges, york timber bridges, york wood bridges. From the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service: The age of wood spans human history. The stone, iron, and bronze ages were dramatic interims in human progress, but wood–a renewable resource–has always been at hand. As a building material, wood is abundant, versatile, and easily obtainable. Without it, civilization as we know it would have been impossible. One-third of the area of the United States is forest land. If scientifically managed and protected from natural disasters caused by fire, insects, and disease, forests will last forever. As older trees are harvested, they are replaced by young trees to replenish the wood supply for future generations. The cycle of regeneration, or sustained yield, can equal or surpass the volume being harvested. Wood was probably the first material used by humans to construct a bridge. Although in the 20th century concrete and steel replaced wood as the major materials for bridge construction, wood is still widely used for short-and medium-span bridges. Of the bridges in the United States with spans longer than 20 feet, approximately 12 percent of them, or 71,200 bridges, are made of timber. In the USDA Forest Service along, approximately 7,500 timber bridges are in use, and more are built each year. The railroads have more than 1,500 miles of timber bridges and trestles in service. In addition, timber bridges recently have attracted the attention of international organizations and foreign countries, including the United Nations, Canada, England, Japan, and Australia. Timber’s strength, light weight, and energy-absorbing properties furnish features desirable for bridge construction. Timber is capable of supporting short-term overloads without adverse effects. Contrary to popular belief, large wood members provide good fire resistance qualities that meet or exceed those of other materials in severe fire exposures. From an economic standpoint, wood is competitive with other materials on a first-cost basis and shows advantages when life cycle costs are compared. Timber bridges can be constructed in virtually any weather conditions, without detriment to the material. Wood is not damaged by continuous freezing and thawing and resists harmful effects of de-icing agents, which cause deterioration in other bridge materials. Timber bridges do not require special equipment for installation and can normally be constructed without highly skilled labor. They also present a natural and aesthetically pleasing appearance, particularly in natural surroundings. The misconception that wood provides a short service life has plagued timber as a construction material. Although wood is susceptible to decay or insect attack under specific conditions, it is inherently a very durable material when protected from moisture. Many covered bridges built during the 19th century have lasted over 100 years because they were protected from direct exposure to the elements. In modern applications, it is seldom practical or economical to cover bridges; however, the use of wood preservatives has extended the life of wood used in exposed bridge applications. Using modern application techniques and preservative chemicals, wood can now be effectively protected from deterioration for periods of 50 years or longer. In addition, wood treated with preservatives requires little maintenance and no painting. Another misconception about wood as a bridge material is that its use is limited to minor structures of no appreciable size. This belief is probably based on the fact that trees for commercial timber are limited in size and are normally harvested before they reach maximum size. Although tree diameter limits the size of sawn lumber, the advent of glued-laminated timber (glulam) some 40 years ago provided designers with several compensating alternatives. Glulam, which is the most widely used modern timber bridge material, is manufactured by bonding sawn lumber laminations together with waterproof structural adhesives. Thus, glulam members are virtually unlimited in depth, width, and length and can be manufactured in a wide range of shapes. Glulam provides higher design strengths than sawn lumber and provides better utilization of the available timber resource by permitting the manufacture of large wood structural elements from smaller lumber sizes. Technological advances in laminating over the past four decades have further increased the suitability and performance of wood for modern highway bridge applications.