The Vero Beach Country Club in Vero Beach, Florida, has recently welcomed a new bridge to its course after working with GatorBridge, a custom aluminum structures company.

The costly problem of bridge deterioration is one many courses face,and wood and steel bridges have a life cycle of 10-20 years according to GatorBridge’s regional manager David Metivier.

His company has recently designed and delivered a new bridge to the Florida club to replace two rusted steel bridges which were deemed unsafe.

The old bridges crossed a salt water canal, but after they were found to be potentially hazardous and before an alternative was found, golf carts and light maintenance vehicles had to cross a bridge about 200 yards away where they had to dodge road traffic.

GatorBridge’s 86 ft, 15,000-pound (6,800 kg) aluminium bridge installation, has helped bring safety levels back to the desired standard. Thanks to the relative lightness of the aluminium bridge, Gator was able to pre-assemble in the factory and deliver to the site in a single truck. Aluminium bridges are also particularly durable, even in seawater environments.

Vero Beach has now ordered a second bridge for its course from GatorBridge. It is hoped that the new bridge will be fabricated and installed within eight weeks.