Utility Pole Foot Bridge with 2x6 Wood Decking
Step-by-step guide made from Indy Farm Life's YouTube video.
Build a sturdy 6-foot-wide foot bridge across a creek or drainage ditch using three repurposed utility poles and pressure-treated 2x6 lumber. The poles rest on leveled cinder block and asphalt milling foundations, with shimmed 2x6 runners supporting the horizontal deck planks.
The full step-by-step Spetz Specs for this project (every part, size, diagram and step, free): Utility Pole Foot Bridge with 2x6 Wood Decking Spetz Specs.
- Difficulty: intermediate
- Finished size: 6 ft wide x ~19 ft long
Safety
- Exercise extreme caution when rigging and lifting heavy utility poles with tractor pallet forks and chains; stand clear of suspended loads in case a chain slips or the pole shifts.
- Wear eye and hearing protection when operating a miter saw, circular saw, and impact driver.
- Chock trailer wheels when parking on sloped ground to prevent the trailer from rolling while unloading lumber.
Must know before you build
- Utility poles taper up to 2 inches; shim 2x6 runners carefully to achieve a level deck.
- Orient curved utility poles with the crown facing upward to minimize shimming.
- Use a compact utility tractor with pallet forks and chains to safely lift and position poles.
- Allow foundation millings to settle through rain after setting poles before final shimming.
- Stretch a mason's string line across the ditch to ensure matching foundation elevations.
- Place hardened concrete bags or large slabs along banks to prevent foundation washout.
Tools
- Sledgehammer (hand tool) (optional)
- Shovel (round-point shovel)
- String line (mason's line)
- Compact utility tractor with front-end loader (compact utility tractor, John Deere, 4052R, H180 front-end loader)
- Pallet forks attachment (front-end loader attachment, John Deere)
- Log chains (heavy-duty steel chain)
- Cant hook (log handling tool) (optional)
- Spirit level (box beam level, Pittsburgh)
- Utility trailer (tandem-axle utility trailer) (optional)
- Cordless impact driver (1/4-inch hex impact driver, DeWalt, 20V MAX)
- Sliding compound miter saw (corded miter saw, Makita)
- Miter saw stand (portable roller stand, Craftsman) (optional)
- Speed square (rafter square) (optional)
- Chalk line (chalk line reel)
- Cordless circular saw (handheld circular saw, DeWalt, 20V MAX)
- Cordless leaf blower (cordless axial leaf blower, DeWalt) (optional)
- 3-point hitch trailer mover (tractor 3-point hitch attachment) (optional)
- Utility knife (folding utility knife)
Materials
- Cinder blocks (8 blocks (4 per bank), concrete masonry unit, Standard 2-core concrete masonry units)
- Asphalt millings and fill dirt (aggregate fill)
- Hardened concrete bags (As needed to cover the bank slope, riprap / erosion control, Hardened bags of cement or mortar mix (or concrete slabs))
- Utility poles (3 poles, treated wood utility poles, 12 to 15 in diameter x ~19 ft long)
- 2x6 pressure-treated boards (pressure-treated dimensional lumber, 2x6)
- Solid concrete cap blocks (7 blocks, concrete cap block)
- Wood shims and scrap strips (wood shims)
- Exterior screws (exterior wood screws, 3 in or 3-1/2 in)
Step by step
Step 1: Reinforce the Bank and Set Foundation Cap Blocks
Place hardened concrete bags along the sloped bank face to prevent erosion and arrange solid concrete cap blocks atop the cinder block foundations on both sides.
- Bring in hardened concrete bags and place them on the bank slope. Use tractor pallet forks to transport hardened bags of concrete or mortar to the ditch, then arrange them across the front face of the asphalt milling foundation mound to prevent washout.
- Tip: Install bank erosion control on the front face of the foundation mound before setting the bridge deck, while you still have open access.
- Set solid concrete cap blocks on both cinder block foundations. Stack three pairs of solid concrete cap blocks spaced apart on the house-side cinder block trench to align with the three poles. On the barn-side cinder block foundation, test-place four concrete cap blocks end-to-end, then replace them with a pressure-treated wood top plate board across the cinder blocks before hoisting the poles.
- Tip: Use solid cap blocks on top of vertical cinder blocks to distribute the heavy point load of the utility poles and adjust for minor elevation differences between banks.
Step 2: Move and Position the Utility Pole Girders
Transport the utility poles to the ditch with tractor pallet forks, then rig log chains to the forks to lift and set the poles across the ditch onto the house-side cap blocks and barn-side wood top plate.
- Stage the utility poles near the ditch with pallet forks. Slide the tractor pallet forks under each utility pole to lift, spin, and push the three poles into staging positions beside the ditch.
- Tip: Stage all three utility poles right next to the ditch before parking the tractor on the opposite bank to hoist them across.
- Hoist and set the first outer utility pole across the ditch. Wrap a log chain around both pallet forks to lock them together and create a lift point at the fork tips. Hook the chain around the first 15-inch pole to pull it across the ditch and hoist the near end onto the outer house-side cap blocks, then drive the tractor to the opposite bank to hoist and set the far end onto the barn-side wood top plate.
- Tip: Wrap a chain around both pallet forks to lock them together when lifting heavy loads from a single fork tip.
- Tip: Wait until all three poles are set across the ditch before fine-tuning their exact alignment with a cant hook, in case you bump the first pole while setting the others.
- Common mistake: Spending time perfectly aligning the first pole before the others are placed, only to bump it out of position while maneuvering the remaining poles.
- Push and hoist the center utility pole into position. Push the 12-inch middle pole across the ditch with the tractor loader, then use the chain-rigged pallet forks from both banks to lift and seat the pole onto the center house-side cap blocks and barn-side wood top plate. Repeat the rigging and hoisting process to set the second 15-inch outer pole along the opposite edge of the 5-foot cinder block foundations.
Step 3: Stage Lumber and Attach Initial 2x6 Runners
Park the lumber trailer near the bridge site, dry-fit lengthwise 2x6 runners along the top of each utility pole, check level, and screw the initial runners down.
- Back the lumber trailer up to the bridge site. Use a tractor 3-point trailer mover to back the utility trailer loaded with 2x6 lumber right up to the work area and lower the tailgate ramp.
- Tip: Use a 3-point hitch trailer mover on your tractor to maneuver a loaded lumber trailer into tight wooded work areas with ease.
- Watch out: Always chock trailer tires when uncoupling or parking on uneven ground.
- Stack, shim and level the 2x6 runners on the poles. Lay pressure-treated 2x6 runners lengthwise along the top of all three utility poles, spacing the two outer runners 4 feet apart (outside to outside) to match a golf cart and mower wheelbase. Screw down the first layer, then stack a second and third ply where the poles sit low (two plies on the far outer pole, three on the middle and near outer poles) with wood shims wedged between the layers. Fasten each ply with 3-inch or 3-1/2-inch exterior screws and keep checking with a spirit level until all three runners are level along their length and across the span.
- Tip: You don't need to mill utility poles flat for a foot or golf-cart bridge; screwing 2x6 runners along the top and tying them together with horizontal deck planks locks the structure together.
- Tip: Screw a few temporary cross braces across the runners so the round poles can't roll out of square before the deck boards go on.
Step 4: Cut and Dry-Fit the 2x6 Deck Boards
Cut the pressure-treated 2x6 boards to 6-foot lengths on the miter saw and lay them across the shimmed runners to dry-fit the deck.
- Cut the 2x6 deck boards to length and lay them across the runners. Crosscut the pressure-treated 2x6 boards into 6-foot lengths on the sliding miter saw and place them side-by-side across the three leveled 2x6 runners.
- Tip: Cut and dry-fit all the deck boards across the runners first so you can align and fasten them in one continuous pass.
- Score and snap protruding shims and finish dry-fitting the deck. Score and snap off the protruding ends of the wood shims along the sides of the 2x6 runners, save the intact offcuts for reuse, and lay out the remaining 6-foot deck boards.
- Tip: Save the snapped-off ends of wood shims to reuse elsewhere on the framing.
Step 5: Fasten the Deck Boards
Space the 2x6 deck boards with a uniform overhang using a scrap wood jig, orient knots and cupping downward, and drive exterior screws into the three runners.
- Align the deck boards with a spacer jig and screw the first half down. Flip each 2x6 so any knots or cupping face downward, set a scrap-wood spacer jig against the outer runner to create an even ~1-foot overhang on both sides, and drive two exterior screws per runner into each plank.
- Tip: Use a scrap block as a spacing jig against the outer runner so every deck board has roughly the same overhang on both sides without measuring.
- Tip: Orient deck boards with knots and any cup facing downward.
- Common mistake: Driving deck screws directly into the heads of the underlying runner screws; offset your screw placement slightly if you hit a buried screw.
- Fasten the remaining deck boards to the end of the bridge. Continue aligning and screwing down the remaining 2x6 planks all the way to the end of the runners.
Step 6: Snap a Chalk Line and Trim the Deck Edges
Snap a chalk line along the overhanging ends of the deck boards and cut them flush with a circular saw.
- Snap a chalk line and rip the overhanging deck board ends flush. Stretch and snap a chalk line along the overhanging ends of the 2x6 planks on both sides of the bridge, then guide a cordless circular saw along the line to trim the edges straight.
- Tip: Leave the deck boards slightly long during installation, then snap a chalk line and trim all the ends at once with a circular saw for a crisp, straight edge.
Step 7: Backfill the Bridge Approach and Clean the Deck
Dump asphalt millings and dirt against the end of the bridge with the tractor loader, pack the transition ramp with a shovel, and blow debris off the deck.
- Dump two loader buckets of asphalt millings and dirt at the bridge approach. Switch the tractor front-end loader to the bucket attachment and dump two loads of asphalt millings and fill dirt directly against the exposed barn-side end of the bridge.
- Grade and tamp the approach ramp with a shovel. Use a round-point shovel to spread, grade, and tamp the asphalt millings flush with the top of the end deck board.
- Tip: Pack asphalt millings tightly against the end of the bridge timbers to create a smooth transition ramp and help lock the structure in place.
- Blow sawdust and dirt off the finished deck. Use a cordless leaf blower to clear all sawdust, wood scraps, and loose dirt off the 2x6 bridge deck.