A prestigious golf resort in the Cayman Islands needed a dual-purpose bridge at their facility to support golf cart traffic and allow watercraft to pass below.

To do so, it reached out to Autoquip, a leading lift equipment solutions manufacturer to design a single-leaf retractable bascule bridge. The bridge had to fit accordingly with the resort’s strict design standards, yet be robust enough to withstand the environmental conditions of the Cayman Islands for decades of maintenance free service.

Measuring 38' in length, the 10' wide bridge is able to raise almost 90 degrees to accommodate most water vessels either via remote or keypad stanchions. When serving as a bridge, the structure is capable of supporting up to 5,000 lbs.

One of the design challenges of this particular project was finding the right balance between industrial structural design and aesthetic appearance. To do so, fabrication played a key role in this process.

Strongwell’s design team was able to work with Autoquip to fully utilize EXTREN® Series 625 square tubes and wide flanges to construct the pedestrian handrails and pickets. The supporting structure of this bridge took advantage of FIBREBOLT® to mechanically fasten EXTREN® angles, tubes, I-beams, and wide flanges together.

For flooring, DURAGRATE® molded grating was chosen because it could be outfitted with a grit system surface proving maximum traction while still remaining a non-marking walking surface, even in wet conditions.

All of the components were painted beige with the exception of the walking surface to resonate with the resort’s color theme. As a follow-up to the installation, the parties involved throughout the project were impressed with properties of the materials, fabrication processes, shipping, scheduling, and delivery experience.

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