A2-Watson

1.  I based my design off one of my first bridge designs in Westpoint Bridge Design.  From the side you can see a bunch of triangles.  These triangles alternate from being right side up to up side down.  In the middle of the design you can see the two supports make an X.  I felt that the middle of the bridge would be the weakest point so I crossed two supports there.  I used three different types of beams and 3 different types of gusset plates.  The beams I use were 1-1/4, 2-1/8, and 3-3/8.   The gusset plates I used were 180-degree grooved gusset plates, 360-degree gusset plates and, 45-degree gusset plates.


2.  Elevation View

3.  Plan View

4.  Cost

5.  My design changed once during drafting.  The one thing I did change was the crossing beams in the middle.  Like I said above I did this to add strength to what I thought to be the weakest part of the bridge.

6.  While doing the design I learned that you do not want to put too much in because it will raise the cost of the bridge.  I do wish that I had Knexts to bring home because it is hard to imagine in your head what will fit and what will not.