By Huck Shaughnessy
When I came across the nature trail at the elementary school I once attended, it was in bad condition: multiple trees had fallen over the path and a bridge across an intermittent stream was destroyed. So, for my BSA Eagle project, I cleared the trees on the path in addition to removing a 12 foot bridge and replacing it with a longer bridge. The new bridge is 16 feet long by 4 feet wide, 2 feet above the intermittent stream, with railings. It was built with pressure-treated wood.
The nature trail will serve a broad range of people, spanning from elementary children, to people in the neighborhood walking their dog. The South Hingham Elementary school has 6 grades, being K-5, with 500 students, who will use it for recess, gym class, or field science.
I went on Youtube to look for videos, I went to Hingham Lumber to gauge the approximate price of the bridge, as well as talking to the staff for any tips. I drew up sketches so I could plan out how I would build the bridge, and I talked to a friend’s dad who is a civil engineer about my plan of construction.
There were numerous tasks to do within the project whether it was hauling wood to and from the site, or helping drill pilot holes; so everyone pitched in and people weren’t standing around doing nothing. Also, there weren’t any major surprises or roadblocks that got in the way of the project or prevented us from finishing most of it in a day.
I was planning on having the remnants of the old bridge removed on our own, but the volunteers suggested taking them out on the work day since folks would be bringing down the new wood and walking back up empty handed. This saved a lot of time. I thought it made sense to be flexible and accept good ideas from all sources.
I thought directing people was challenging since I had the plan in my head. So, translating what was in my head into a simple step-by-step explanation was difficult. I found having a photo (from a YouTube video) and a sketch handy helped a lot to guide the volunteers.
I thought that making sure that everyone followed the safety guidelines was difficult, since some of the scouts weren’t using eye protection and gloves at first. Safety is important. Despite the initial safety briefing, I had to remind the Scouts a few times to use eye protection and gloves.
Also, some of the kids had to be coached using the power drills to make sure screws went in straight.
When the original bridge was removed, we realized we didn’t need to use concrete footings. This was good since it made the project easier.
When digging into the bank to place the wood footings, we found many thick roots and rocks. This meant we couldn’t dig a trench as deep as we wanted so the bridge sat higher than originally planned.
This also meant we have to build steps up to the bridge that weren’t originally planned. The steps that we first put in weren’t deep enough, so we had to double their size.
The hardest part of being the leader was communicating the plan and my thoughts into words so the Scouts knew what to do. I made sure to break the project into small steps and focus on each step: digging in the footings, placing the footings, screwing the spans and cross braces together, screwing in the planks, screwing in supports underneath, putting up the side supports, and screwing in the railings. I spent time with each volunteer one on one to make sure they knew what they were supposed to do for each step. I also had a sketch and a photo handy so they could see what I was talking about.
Seeing the sketches and the plan coming to life. We were thinking and planning for a year, so to finally build something you could walk across felt great.
I want to thank Hingham Lumber, Home Depot in Rockland, and Senator Patrick O’Connor for their generous contributions to help me buy the wood to build the bridge. I also want to thank the Hingham Department Of Public Works for cutting down the trees that blocked the nature trails. Thank you to Chris Russo who lent us tools for the project and thank you to the parents and scouts of Troop 4 Hingham for volunteering their time and effort.