How Much Does A Bridge Cost?

Pre-fabricated bridges, like most custom manufacturing, vary tremendously in cost depending on the size and features chosen. Equally important is what combination of loadings (pedestrian vs. vehicular) and which design codes are applied to the structure. There is no national agreement on what codes, loads, and stresses should apply, so it is often dictated per the collaborative judgments from owners, consultants and local governments.Our structures can easily range from $350 a linear foot to over $2,000 a linear foot depending on usage, aesthetics, applicable codes, and other options.

Please call for an accurate estimate (800) 548-0054 or use our web form for a quick budget price.

Fortunately, Excel Bridge provides the design, fabrication, and delivery which takes all those tasks off your plate.  Because we design and build bridges all day and every day, our experience and efficiencies can often reduce your total costs by up to 2/3.Including Excel's steel truss bridges in your project can mean clearing much longer spans than most other bridging options allow, virtually eliminating the need for piers.  This can save a lot of time and headaches with being able to span areas that other owners or agencies may control.

Other costs that should be considered and are outside of Excel Bridge's scope are:

• Utilizing a contractor to build the abutments (and piers if needed) and set the bridge
• Environmental issues. These can impact your timeline, pier location options and more

A local engineer and/or architect should be able to assist you with the above plus design of abutments, permits, utility coordination, hydrology, soil analysis and aesthetics.

Typical 30' to 120' bridges made from weathering steel, with wood or concrete decks at 6' to 12' wide, may range from $500 per linear foot (plf) up to $900 plf.
Typical bridges the same as above except clear spanning 125' to 180' may range from $800 plf to $1400 plf.
Typical box truss bridges, usually fenced on all sides for a highway overpass, cost are typically more than the above examples.

• Painted bridges are usually more expensive than weathering steel.
  
  
  Painted Bow Truss
  
• Bow truss are slightly more expensive than parallel chord trusses.
  
  
  
• Girder types with a covering of wood like the Excel "Macho Combo" above can add 10-25% over the truss type.
  
  
• AASHTO (DOT) code instead of AISC for the design stresses typically adds to the cost.
  
  
  Longitudinally spliced bridge nested for shipment
  
  
• Wider bridges with decks from 13' to 16' are usually 20% to 40% higher cost.
  
  
  Full Highway load, also called HS-20 loading
  

Please call for an accurate estimate (800) 548-0054 or use our web form for a quick budget price.

These factors can affect price significantly but cannot be quantified without considering project particulars:

• Larger vehicles: Applying a pickup truck (5 ton or H5) vehicle load usually has little effect on cost. Vehicles of 6-7.5 tons do typically cause a noticeable bump up in price. H10 trucks are the next step higher. HS-20 trucks for fire, propane, construction, etc., will increase cost significantly up to double the cost or more. For skid steer loaders and other construction/maintenance vehicles you must know the actual axel dimensions and weights. For budget estimates please call, generalizations cannot reliably be made for these kinds of vehicle loads.
  
  
• The 100 year flood event: The consultant and the local authorities must decide how big a flood event you are designing the bridge to avoid or withstand.
  • These bridges have been designed to withstand 12 fps of stream load assuming the truss railing is filled with debris and has become a dam. This drives costs significantly higher. Break-a-way designs are sometimes used when the bridge cannot be raised out of the flood plain but water back up from the damming effect is unacceptable. Many break-a-ways have a cable imbedded into the abutment in an attempt to prevent the bridge from tumbling downstream causing injury. Some field reports indicate success with this strategy, often rescuing and reinstalling the bridge.
    
  • Attempting to raise the bridge above the flood water not only affects pier heights and bridge length, but the allowable below deck depth of structure as well. Requiring a very shallow below deck depth for long spans can change the look and cost of your bridge considerably. Despite this, pony and box trusses still provide the best top of deck to lowest member dimension and cost.
• The American Disabilities Act sometimes causes small additional costs by adding features, but sometimes can cause major cost increases as it affects the construction of the trail. These problems usually center around the conflict between the limits of how much slope is allowed in the trail verses how high the bridge must be to clear the flood events (see point immediately above). For views of the types of bridges and their below-deck structure, click here.
  
  
• Clearance over traffic lanes or rail road cars, is similar to the two points above. To over simplify: truss bridges under 70' need at least one foot from top of deck to lowest member. Over 100' and this dimension jumps usually to a minimum of 22" to 30". If something is limiting your depth of structure please call to discuss the options. Don't forget the ramps and/or stairs to get on the bridge; sometimes the bridge cost becomes secondary to these structures.

Other significant costs that are outside the scope of Excel Bridge's work are:

• The crane to set the bridge.
• Accessibility
• Environmental issues. These can impact your timeline, pier possibilities, and more.
• Concrete for the deck, if you chose that kind of deck.
• Designing and building of the concrete abutments.

Please call for an accurate estimate (800) 548-0054 or use our web form for a quick budget price.