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Construction
When it comes to construction, the process is fairly simple. You will
need heavy equipment and have some good construction experience in order to keep
the project moving along on time and on budget. Contrary to traditional
bridge companies, Paragon encourages our clients to build their bridge
themselves. We can supply you with all the tools and materials you will
need. But, we understand that it is often the case where building a bridge
may appear to be overwhelming. In those cases we are happy to provide
construction and/or consulting services.
Parameters
First, we will need to know who "controls" the building process. Often
times this is the city or county but sometimes it will be a fire department,
ditch company or flood plain authority...or a combination of any of these.
They might determine the minimum width, lengths, and load capacities. Of
course, you may have your own requirements that go above and beyond the
minimums. Give us all the controlling information.
Survey
We will then need to have a really good idea of what we are dealing with.
Water levels, slopes of banks, and elevations all play critical roles in placing
your bridge structure properly.
Soils
A decent soils report will usually cost you about $2,000. This information
is helpful in determining your soil bearing pressure, along with a few other
important factors. It is really up to you, our client, to let us know if
you think you have poor soils. Otherwise, we will assume that you have
decent soils (2000 PSF). We do not require a soils report for most
projects but we do encourage you to always utilize a soils report for loads up
to 40,000 lbs and strongly recommend you conduct a soils report for loads over
40,000 lbs. That choice is entirely up to you.
Engineering
We will share all of the above information with our Professional Engineers
(please see the ENGINEERING page) and give you our
design recommendations. You will take our information to the "controlling"
authorities for a permit.
Excavation
As far as we are concerned, the hard part (the paperwork) is finished. You
are now ready to excavate. Of course, you will need to double check your
measurements and mark where your abutments will be located. Once the
abutments are excavated, we recommend that you put at least a few inches of
gravel in the excavated hole. Compact and level it off.
Abutments
You are ready to set our pre-cast abutments onto the gravel or start forming &
pouring the abutments. See our "ABUTMENTS"
page for more info.
Set Bridge
The bridge structure will arrive to you ready to be set in place.
You will need to schedule a crane to off load and set your bridge directly onto
your abutments. Send the crane home as soon as possible in order to keep
you cost down. Nudging the bridge structure over a little can be
accomplished with smaller equipment. Raising one end of the bridge
structure is also fairly easy.
Finish
Once the bridge structure is set in place, you can add our "special recipe" of
bolts, steel, and neoprene pads included in our installation kit. Put
these items together according to the blue prints and within a few hours you are
ready to use your new bridge. Of course, you still need to backfill and
build approaches...but that is something we leave to "others".
Congratulations...you now have
a new bridge!!!
Paragon understands that not all project are the same. We are
continually looking for ways to simplify while giving clients more options
tailored to their particular needs. Our installation services is a prime
example of our outlook. We offer many options to fit your unique
circumstances.
Full Service Installation
Paragon offers full service installation in most western states. It can be
as easy as you pointing and saying "I want my bridge right there" and we do all
the rest. But, usually, we would need to know an exact placement of the
bridge which means we would need to hire a surveyor to mark excavation
locations. We would take care of excavation, building
abutments, setting the bridge in place, and securing
everything together. We try to stick to what we do well, which is building
the bridge, so once we are finished you would still need to hire somebody else
to build approaches/ramps to the bridge. We are covered by a general
liability policy.
Cursory Installation
This is something that Paragon has started offering in early 2006. Its
really pretty simple, we call it the "drop and go" method. We bring your
bridge structure to your job site and set in place. Paragon is not
responsible for your abutments or securing the bridge structure down.
Again, we only do this in most western states. Although we will set the
bridge pretty darn close to perfect, it is ultimately the clients responsibility
to nudge the bridge as needed to get their exact placement. We will offer
a few recommendations for securing the bridge but other than that we are done.
This works good for general contractors that can "fine tune" the bridge once we
leave.
Consulting Installation
This option is getting more and more popular, especially in areas where we do
not usually offer any installation services. For one flat fee, we help you
choose and schedule all the sub-contractors then we will fly one of our
employees to the job site on the day the bridge arrives. You will pay all
the sub-contractors directly, Paragon is not responsible for any of their work.
We tell you and your laborers what we typically do, where to lift the bridge at,
how to properly set it down, and make recommendations on how to secure the
bridge. The Paragon employee is not permitted to do any of the actual work
whatsoever, but instead guides you through the process. Our employee will
leave once the bridge is set and you have a good understanding of how to finish
up the bridge. Its a one day project for just one of our employees so the
cost is very attractive. Additional site visits can be purchased.
Most clients ask us to visit their site before any work is done and again when
the abutment holes are excavated and again after the abutments are built (but
long before the bridge is set).
Our employees are very easy to work with. We do not expect you to speak
in "engineering lingo". Instead, we use a common sense approach.
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