We at DesignerBridges.com work hard to provide quality bridges for whatever need you have – from small garden bridges that are predominately decorative, up to fully functional vehicular bridges. We believe that no other company can offer such a wide range of products at reasonable prices, combined with the ability to customize any of our bridges to meet your needs and design preferences.

Our standard line of bridges are made of Treated Pine, Cedar, Maintenance Free Composite materials, iron, or stone. With many different and unique styles – check out the optibreeze bridge for something completely unique! And if you don’t see what you want, let us know and we will do whatever it takes to provide you with the bridge you want, and satisfaction is guaranteed!

This will depend on a lot of things! First, if you are putting up a small garden bridge, this will not need a permit, as it is considered a decoration. Larger bridges, where they span a small stream, for example, probably will not need a permit, as long as it is on private property (not open to the general public), and used only for family members to walk across. Any bridge that is open to the public, in a place of business, or large enough to drive on, will almost definitely need a permit, as well as possible conformity to other regulations. It is important to note that every state, town, and municipality have different codes, and it is best to check with the local code enforcement officer if there is any doubt concerning permits.

Yes! If you need a bridge with a different railing, higher or lower arch, different materials or a combination of materials, longer or shorter spans, or widths and lengths to fit existing spaces, we can do “almost” anything. If you’ve had plans made, and you need a bridge to those specs, we can build a bridge to those plans. Just click on a “custom” link or call us.

We will do everything we can to accommodate you, although there may be some restrictions that are above our control! Of course, we cannot build a custom bridge that will not meet load standards, or do not satisfy other safety matters.

The load that your bridge can support will vary greatly amongst the different bridges. Our garden bridges, which are meant to be displayed in a garden and not used for much traffic (if any) will easily support one or two people. If you need to carry more traffic, or small vehicles (riding lawn mowers, golf carts, ATVs), our garden bridges will not suffice. Our standard pedestrian bridges will hold a couple of thousand pounds and are ideal for general backyard or garden use. Longer bridges, or if they need to support a lot of weight would be found in our heavy duty category. Remember, since we can customize our bridges to your needs, we can design a bridges that will carry a child with a play wheelbarrow up to a fully loaded pickup truck… and everything in between.

To determine your needs, think of the heaviest thing that will cross the bridge, and make sure that the bridge you order will support it! Also, note that some bridges only come in lengths up to so many feet. This is because the design of that bridge, if taken over that length, would not support the stated weight. For heavy duty bridges, load is usually determined by pounds per square foot. Take the width of the bridge times the length and multiply that times the stated load in pounds per square feet (PSF)

Railing styles have no bearing on the weight a bridge will support.

The anchoring of bridges is mainly determined by use, and location. A garden or pedestrian bridge in an area that does not include water, and used for light traffic will not need to be anchored at all, although it can be. If your bridge will carry a lot of weight, or vehicles (including bicycles), it should be anchored so that it does not move. Any bridge in an area that may be prone to flooding should be anchored. One mistake many make is that they build a bridge that can withstand flooding, but the abutments can wash away, or the bridge is not anchored. After a flood, we have received calls that their bridge probably survived the flood, its just that they can’t find it! Of course, any commercial grade bridges will need anchoring.

Exactly how bridges are anchored may be determined by local codes. On earth abutments (the bridge will rest on a leveled area of ground with no concrete poured)

If you’ve poured a pad of concrete, anchoring of the beams can be done with steel L brackets, bolted to the pad with concrete anchors, and to the beam with screws or bolts.

Usually with larger vehicular bridges, abutments should rest on a foundation that is below frost level and back away from any water source to reduce the chance of erosion.

As always, when in doubt, contact us for help in planning all aspects of constructing your bridge.

Yes – any of our bridges can be made with a flat beam, although they may lose a little of their appearance. There are times when a flat bridge is more suitable if the bridge will be used for vehicles, bicycles, or wheelchair accessability.

Technically, a camber is “the slightly arched form or convex curvature provided in beams to compensate for dead load deflection, in general, a structure built with perfectly straight lines appears slightly sagged”.

Sometimes confused with the term arch, even a straight beam, if built for heavy duty support (gluelam) will have a slight arch, this is the camber and adds strength to the beam. Over the span of even a few feet, this camber is not visible once the bridge is completed. The standard camber of a 26 foot long straight beam (this is figured on a 2000’ radius) is ¼ of an inch, not enough to notice, but will add the needed strength.

Garden bridges or standard pedestrian bridges, if you want a straight beam, will have no camber. The weight load of these bridges (up to 16’ long) does not require the need of gluelam beams or a built in camber.

The length of small garden bridges that are not spanning a water area, but used for decoration, is left to what aesthetically looks good! But if a bridge is crossing something (stream, pond, gulley, etc.) you must make sure that the bridge is long enough so that the beams can rest on a solid foundation. This can be ground, stones, bricks or a poured abutment. It is important to understand the difference between “span” and “bridge length” and the term “seat”


Span is defined as “the distance between the supports of a beam”. With most of our bridges, this is a clear span, from one side of the bridge to the other, and with no supports in the middle of the bridge.

Seat is “a base on which the beam is placed”, or the part of the beam that actually sits on that base.

Bridge length, assuming that your bridge will require a 24” seat on each end of the bridge, and the gully that needs to be spanned is 8 feet, you would need a minimum of a 12’ bridge (8 ft span PLUS 2 ft seat on each end of the bridge)

Many of our bridge spec tables show the “max span” for each bridge, which is less than the bridge length as described above. Different size bridges will require a different seat size in order to maintain the weight load minimums. You can compute the seat (minimum base size) by taking the bridge length MINUS the span and then dividing that by 2. Example 4 x 16 pedestrian bridge has a max span of 172”:
16’ = 192” MINUS 172” = 20” divided by 2 = 10”
Each end of the beam must sit on at least 10” of solid material to maintain the 2,200 pound load.

Basically, stable, solid ground will do. You have to determine if the ground is in an area that will not wash away from rain runoff, or if it’s too close to a stream that may flood. Garden bridges can be set directly on the ground. Pedestrian bridges also need no additional support or abutments if they are for light pedestrian traffic. If they are to be used for any moving vehicles – bikes, ATV, golf carts - or anything that is heavy, you should consider concrete or other additional supports. Even if pouring concrete, the ground under and around the abutment should be solid and safe from erosion.

The area where the beams will sit on the ground should be level. Also, the area that the other end of the beam will sit should also be level and both ends of the beam should be at the same height. With garden bridges, or light traffic pedestrian bridges, the two sides can be slightly different heights, but no more than a couple inches difference. Anything more than that will be visible, and result in the seat cuts (the flat cuts at the ends of the beams) not resting flat on the ground, which can affect strength.

Instructions can be found here on our site for most bridges. Assembly is actually the same for all of our wooden bridges, no matter what the size. A small 4’ long garden bridge has basically the same instructions as a 32’ heavy duty pedestrian bridge. The differences of course are the size of the beams and the number of posts and railing sections and decking boards.

Any commercial or custom bridges may not have instructions online, but you will be supplied with the information needed to construct your bridge. If the seats are level and the same heights on both ends, installation can usually be done with a good screw gun and a helper, in one afternoon for most non commercial bridges.

Unless you specify that you want your bridge shipped already assembled, all of our bridges ship in boxes, or stacked on pallets in kit form. This make delivery easy in that they can be easily unloaded, and also allows us to offer the lowest freight charges possible. It is possible to deliver fully assembled bridges, but there will be additional costs, and will probably require either equipment or additional help to unload.

Smaller bridges, including most garden bridges can be shipped by either Fed Ex or UPS. These companies have limits as to weight and package sizes, so some of the garden bridges and all of the larger bridges will need to be shipped by motor freight carriers. Fed Ex and UPS shipments are delivered to your door while motor freight shipments are “curbside” deliveries, and will require you to be at home at time of delivery. Please refer to our shipping policies for more information.

Please keep in mind that the carrier delivering your bridge does not work for DesignerBridges.com and is under no obligations other than that which his company has laid out. If you need the carrier to carry any packages other than to either your door (FedEx, UPS) or just off the truck, you must make those arrangements with DesignerBridges.com before the bridge ships.

If you live near our office or warehouse, some bridges can be delivered using our truck. Delivering a larger pedestrian bridge by our truck may be more economical, depending on your location.

The weight of the bridge will of course depend on the size and materials of the bridge. Garden bridges made of cedar can weigh under 100 pounds, while the weight of some large heavy duty pedestrian bridges are measured in tons. For most of the bridges, the spec charts for each style and size lists the total weight of the assembled bridges. Larger bridge weights are available once they’ve been built, or you can ask our customer service for an estimate on large or custom bridges.

This will depend on the size of the bridge, and the skill level of those involved. The kits are made so that all of our bridges can be constructed by anyone with common household tools and limited construction experience. All bridges have only three or fewer steps in construction.

1. Beams – the “trick” with the beams is making sure that they are level and both sides of the bridge are at equal heights and that the beams sit on a solid foundation. With the larger bridges, especially the glulam beam bridges, you will need enough help to carry and place the beams. Weights of glulam beams can weigh in the hundreds of pounds.
2. Decking – is precut and predrilled. The main difficulty here is monontany, as larger bridges can have dozens of planks, and hundreds of screws. Small bridges, of course have less! The best way to make sure that this step is done easily is to make sure you have a good screw gun or drill…
3. Posts and Railings. Posts are positioned as described in the instructions, and railings are screwed to posts. Main concern is to make sure that the posts are plumb, straight up and down.

This will vary, but we’ve come up with a chart - estimating building times:
Bridges under 10’ long: 2 hours
Bridges 10 – 14’ long: 3 hours
Bridges 16’ or longer: 4 hours plus and hour for each 4 feet.
(Note this chart assumes 2 people with screw guns, and also assumes that the foundation is level and sound before construction begins).