The Best Ways to Make a Wooden Ladder Bridge

Wooden ladder bridges are features of mountain biking trails that provide a safe passage dangerous or wet terrain, or are designed to be a challenging feature for riders. These bridges can be built by trailblazers using treated wooden two-by-fours and natural materials, such as rocks. The best ways to make a wooden ladder bridge require you to understand the riders and the trail before designing and building your bridge.

  1. Location

    • Building a great wooden ladder bridge begins with selecting the appropriate location for the bridge. Wooden ladder bridges typically are used to provide riders with a way over a particularly wet or unnavigable portion of the trail, but they also can be used to create an interesting or challenging feature for more advanced riders. Choose the location for your ladder bridge carefully, and provide a clearly marked path around the ladder bridge for beginning riders. Obtain permission from the landowner before building any bridge, and assess the damage potential and safety of the area.

    Preparing the Surface

    • Because ladder bridges typically are placed in areas that are damp, prepare the area thoroughly by hardening it before building the bridge to guarantee its stability. Rock armoring is the process of using natural stones to increase the hardness of the surface and vary the terrain on inclines and damp parts of the trail. Prepare the surface where the bridge will be built by placing large stones securely into the ground to elevate the bridge over the wet areas. If you are building on an incline, start at the bottom and work up. Tie the stones together, and anchor them into the ground to provide a safe base for the bridge.

    Bridge Design

    • Before beginning to build your bridge, complete a detailed design that addresses potential issues and problems. When designing your bridge, determine the skill level of those using the trail. If more advanced riders will be using it, you can make the bridge steeper, higher, more narrow and have features such as turns and drop-offs. If the trail is predominately used for beginners, consider designing a bridge that is wider and lower to the ground. Avoid having sharp turns or angles in the bridge to prevent injury and accidents to beginning riders.

    Completing the Bridge

    • Prepare your materials to the design specifications you created. Treated two-by-fours are commonly used to build ladder bridges as they provide a uniform thickness that allows the bridge to be level throughout its length. These boards then are cut to the specifications determined by the design to accommodate the length and width of the trail and trail features, such as drop-offs and camber changes. Build the bottom frame of the bridge out of long lengths of two-by-fours braced by rock armoring and dug at least 18 inches into the ground. Join the planks to the frame using screws to guarantee stability.