Green Construction Before “GREEN” was a Movement

Green construction methods make Bridge Builders USA Inc., the country’s leading builder of ecologically sensitive vehicular timber bridges and public access boardwalk complexes. For more than 25 years we’ve been doing our part to make the world a better place through green construction.

From the beginning, we were sensitive to the fact that we were building structures to carry vehicles and people through wetlands and very special habitats. It was clear to us that wood was the ecologically sensitive material to use for green bridge construction.

WOOD – A SOFTER ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT

There are aesthetic and environmental considerations in choosing green construction with wood. Wood fits beautifully into natural settings. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies, which consider the full range of a product’s environmental impacts, show that wood has a softer environmental footprint than materials such as concrete or steel.

WOOD – RENEWABLE, REUSABLE, RECYCLABLE AND BIODEGRADABLE

Wood requires far less energy in the bridge construction phase and produces few greenhouse gases. Wood is the only renewable building material as it is reusable, recyclable and biodegradable, requiring less water and energy during bridge construction and leaving much less solid waste behind to be disposed of.

WOOD – DURABLE WITH LONG LIFE

Wood is also very durable thanks to EPA-approved wood preservatives. Thus timber vehicular bridges capable of supporting heavy loads are assured a long life. They require little maintenance or painting and are an aesthetic choice for architects, engineers and contractors. Our technically advanced green construction methods enable our bridges to roll, bend, turn and accommodate EPA, aesthetic and topographical dictates in environmentally sensitive areas.

THE LONGEST PILE-SUPPORTED HS-25 BRIDGE IN THE COUNTRY

Using green construction, Bridge Builders ™ completed the longest pile-supported, HS-25 vehicular timber bridge in the country at the Nature Walk project in Seagrove, a master planned community, in Santa Rose Beach in Florida. The Nature Walk Bridge crosses 780 feet of wetlands and is fully capable of supporting all normal highway traffic, including construction equipment, large fire trucks, loaded concrete trucks and service equipment.

BRIDGE BUILDERS’ ™ GREEN CONSTRUCTION METHODS

Green not only applies to our environmentally friendly material choice but to our construction methods as well. Our goal is to tread lightly. Bridge Builders ™ pioneered the concept of top – down construction, which allows us to build with minimal impact to the land. As a result our timber bridges fit beautifully in their natural settings and are installed in a manner that helps preserve some of our nation’s prime environmentally sensitive areas and wetlands.

THE BENEFITS OF GREEN CONSTRUCTION

By using green construction methods, we can assist in preserving natural habitats, watersheds, and ecosystems, protect air and water quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste, all while conserving natural resources and creating healthier indoor and outdoor environments.

Green construction has been our mission from the very first bridge we built to our more than one thousand installations that exist today. For Bridge Builders ™, green construction is not a trend. It’s the core of our company.

Bridge Builders has been phenomenal to work with, an absolute joy. Right from the beginning, they understood what we were looking for. Quality, workmanship and price —everything was better than I could have expected. Your field superintendent, Jim Collins, went the extra mile to accommodate our schedule, to meet the needs of the other contractors and to solve problems. As we approach the end of our project, the covered bridge that Bridge Builders produced at Canopy Creek is better than we ever expected.

We are pleased and Martin County is pleased. Canopy Creek is an Audubon Signature Community. The point of this designation is to help developers do what is right environmentally in a sensible way, and that is the way Bridge Builders approaches their business.

We had been dealing with one of your competitors. One day we were down in the Florida panhandle and saw another Bridge Builders’ development, Seagrove. When we saw the quality of the workmanship, we picked up the phone and called Bridge Builders. Your field superintendent’s personal standards of excellence and understanding of the project were reasons enough to work with Bridge Builders again. The work that they did for us is creating word of mouth recommendations throughout our industry.

Scott Morton
Kolter Communities
Canopy Creek, Florida