PERCH was designer for the LaPlatte River Bridge, a footbridge located in LaPlatte Nature Park in Shelburne. This suspension bridge crosses the LaPlatte River with a clear span of 68 feet. It opened to the public last weekend in a festive ceremony with refreshments and a band.
Swedish band Kolonien leads a parade across the newly completed LaPlatte Crossing.
The bridge owes its existence to a Shelburne resident who would walk to work every day through LaPlatte Nature Park. Joplin built about a dozen bridges over a seven-year period to cross the LaPlatte River, some as simple as a single log with a handrail. Most of these primitive bridges washed away; one was condemned because it was built on town land without a permit. So Joplin set about to build a permanent bridge, with full permission from the town.
Joplin also wanted a landmark, something that would be fun to cross and look at home in an Indiana Jones movie. A girder bridge seemed far too pedestrian (no pun intended), and he decided early on that a suspension bridge was the way to go. But designing a suspension bridge is complicated: the load path goes from the deck to the hangers to the main cables to the towers, and the load distribution changes as people walk across and deform the deck. That’s where PERCH came in.
Using a handheld driver to install the ground anchors.
The foundations for the towers (compression) and the main cables (tension) went through many iterations based on constructability and environmental impact. With no vehicle access to the site, all materials were designed to be transported and installed by human power. And the permits prohibited excavation, eliminating the possibility of metal piles or concrete anchorages. An initial plan to wrap the cable ends around sturdy trees was scrapped when the strength and longevity of the trees could not be confirmed. We ended up renting a generator-powered handheld driver to install screw-like ground anchors for both the towers and the cables.
Almost every detail of the bridge was revised or refined as construction challenges cropped up. The girders supporting the deck kept falling off the needle beams as the bridge moved, so a splice was devised to enable full bearing on the needle beams without changing the deck’s overall flexibility. The 3/16” diameter hangers, spaced 4 feet apart, connect to the 5/8” diameter main cables via wire rope clips that can’t slide along the main cables. Turnbuckles were added to the main cable ends so builders could easily adjust the cable tension post-installation.
The towers are 20 feet tall and made from 8×8 timbers; fabricated steel base plates that connect to the ground anchors and fabricated steel saddles that hold the cables in place were designed late in the game. Rubber thresholds were added at both towers to provide an unbroken surface between the moving bridge deck and the stationary access ramps. Even the tower locations were moved 5 feet east from the initial plan due to erosion concerns, requiring a revision to the site survey.
Attending the chilly opening ceremony, I didn’t need to tell the crowd they should test the bridge to its limits. They recorded the first piggyback crossing, the first to skip across, the first parade (led by the band) and many other variations of their own volition. There may never be another day when 50 people try to cross this bridge all at once, so I’m confident it will last many years. Endless thanks to Joplin, the Town of Shelburne, and the hundreds of volunteers who made this bridge possible – it has been a wonderful opportunity.
Donors and volunteers carved their names in the deck boards.
PERCH Engineering 