US-42 Creek Pedestrian Bridge

My name is Lucas White and I'm a junior at Jonathan Alder High School in Plain City.

In Plain City, there is a creek called the Darby Creek, it runs through our city and many smaller creeks run into this river. Many of these smaller creeks cut up our city, and pedestrian bridges would be a huge help in making foot travel easier in our small city. Since our city isn't big enough to have massive bridges just for pedestrians, I felt many smaller, more affordable bridges could be a huge help and bring a sense of beauty to our city. My concept for the bridge is a simple one. The focus is less on the bridge being super complex, and as already said, I wished for it to be simple. The main draw for my bridge is the focus of analyzing and gaining information on the wildlife and pedestrian life of the people of our city.

• 2x4 for the road.
• 5 Logs for the stakes in the ground.
• Either wood or concrete for the side supports. (Wood would look better but may have trouble being shaped as shown, while concrete may be less visually appealing, however it will be sturdier.)
• Wooden or metal railing.
• Electric Lamps
• Light sensors to detect when to turn on or off the lamps.
• Solar panels if the bridge has no access to power, but if power is accessible, then solar panels are not necessary.
• Motion triggered cameras mounted to the posts. Used for documenting wildlife and pedestrians around the bridge.

Now it is very hard to see the creek in the photo, but that massive tree line, or from this view the very dark green patch, that is the creek. It separates many pedestrians from the other half of town, and the bridge currently there is only for car traffic. US-42 runs on that road and the bridge is very dangerous for pedestrians to use for crossing. Right next to the vehicle bridge is a wide open space that goes unused. I can see a pedestrian bridge (Marked in red on the map) with pathways (Marked in blue on the map) leading from one side of the creek to the other. With all that massive space, it also can be used to create a little rest area for pedestrians (Marked in black on the map). As depicted in my design, a gazebo with benches and maybe a grill area could encourage more foot traffic. With Plain Cities transition from being a town to becoming a city, it needs to begin thinking about aesthetic and creating more comfortable environments for its citizens, and creating this bridge could not only connect the two sides of Plain City better, but can also bring a connection to nature Plain City is slightly lacking.

The bridge I built is very reminiscent of a bridge at my old house. This bridge was made from concrete and was less aesthetically appealing but I used to swim in the creek this bridge was built over, sometimes hiding under the arch during hide and seek. I wanted to bring that bridge back to life but in a newer more natural version made from wood. While many of the shapes I used were very basic, I wanted to make the bridge stand out. Using the Group tool, I was able to create more complex shapes like my lamps. By using a hexagon, I put hole shapes on the sides to create the shape of the lamp, and using triangle prisms, I was able to make a very unique shape on the top. The handrails used the Scribble tool, which was very helpful in many aspects of my design. This tool has to be my favorite due to all the possible shapes this tool offers. Another of my great creations during the designing phase is Barb. Barb is the creature living under the bridge, but don't worry, she's very nice.

Once the design phase was done, the next step was to print the part. The purpose of this print was to see what the issues were with the design and think of how to change them in order to make my design more real world applicative. After looking at the model I saw that there were some parts that would need to be altered in the design. One example is the arches. There are small cracks in between the different parts of the arches, and those would need filled in the real world to make the bridge function as intended, but in the design works well to demonstrate the look I wished the bridge to have. a user error I made was making the center support too long and the 3D Model was very wobbly. To fix this I shortened the center beam to match the length of the other beams. Apart from these simple issues this bridge is very sound and shows much promise.

To construct the bridge. start with posts set into the ground on either side of the creek and one in the center of the creek. These will be the support beams for the bridge. Next you create wood arches. This will require multiple arched pieces to be cut then put together to create an arch long enough to span the bridge. Wooden 2x4s will then need to be set in between each of these beams, adding more support where needed. More arches may need to be added between the two main side arches in order to have something the 2x4s can be screwed into. Once that is assembled then you add the railing. These railings would have to be very sanded down and varnish needs to be added so it is smooth.

While the bridge promotes foot travel between the two sides of Plain City, another focus can be the connection to nature. Attached to the bridge are motion detecting cameras which will document the wildlife in the area and the people passing through the area. In the design each camera is focused on an important point. Some are focused on benches or the gazebo while another is on a bird feeder. The bird feeder will give an amazing amount of data, ranging from what birds are in what part of Plain City at certain times of the year, and will also help track the migration patterns of these birds. Other structures or ways to attract nature can be added to increase the data gathered by the cameras, like a salt lick for deer, flowers to attract insects, etc... Lamps can also be added to the bridge to aid with late night walks, these I imagine can be on until curfew each night, where they will be automatically turned off by an automatic clock. The lights will cut out around the time nocturnal animals become the most active so data collection will not be impacted by these light sources.

Learning how to use Tinkercad was more of a challenge than I thought. It has such simple shapes that trying to create more complex designs makes it mildly difficult. I do owe much thanks to some other creators for making some of the other designs, like the bench and the wooden boards I used for the slats on my bridge. In a way my design which is supposed to connect two different sides of the same city is in another way a combination of many different creators on Tinkercad. Learning a new 3D modeling software and making a bridge I can be proud of has helped me grow a love not only for design but also for the journey. The main focus was not only the bridge but the surrounding area, being sure to encourage not only human foot travel, but the connections to nature as well.