My Second Bridge

Boy does this bridge bring back memories. I built this bridge in 2001, in the 7th grade. It was my first attempt at building a bridge on my own after building this bridge with my partner.

I had wanted to make an arch bridge, much like the Booth Bridge, but I didn’t have the building skills to do join the arches in the middle. So I simply made an A frame bridge. I never knew how much it weighed as our Science Olympiad team did not have a scale back then. The bridge held about 30 pounds, just 3 pounds short of the magical 15 kilogram mark (33 pounds). Back then the Science Olympiad bridges had to hold the entire 15kg or they would be ranked in the 2nd tier.

This bridge was built only out of basswood, except for the roadbed. Even back then I understood the power of Basswood . I used Epoxy glue to build this bridge. That is because my bridge building coach used it, and I followed his example. I don’t use epoxy glue for bridges anymore, though I have used it for other things. Read more about choosing the right glue.