Animal Crossing New Horizons: How to Build Bridges
In Animal Crossing New Horizons you spend a good chunk of your time unlocking new things that will help you collect materials faster, carry more stuff, and get around your island quicker. One of things you can unlock allows you to cross rivers more permanently than the Vaulting Pole. These bridges are an unlockable DIY recipe. To help you get this recipe use our how to build bridges in Animal Crossing New Horizons guide.
Build the Shop for Timmy and Tommy
To start the sequence of events that leads to bridge building you want to advance the story-line so you are at the point of building a shop for Timmy and Tommy. To do this you need to have Blathers move to the island. After Blathers moves to the island you can enter the Nook tent to trigger the shop building quest. To build the shop you need the following materials:
- 30x Hardwood.
- 30x Softwood.
- 30x Wood.
- 30 Iron Nuggets.
Once you’ve gathered and donated the materials above you can place the shop on your island. With the shop built you trigger a new sequence with Tom Nook that involves building three houses for NPCs wanting to come to the island. During this building sequence you will get access to the Bridge recipe (by using Tom Nook’s secret phrase).
How to Get the Bridge Construction Kit
After the Shop is built Tom Nook will receive a phone call regarding building three houses. Tom recruits you to help him in complete this project. To start make your way to the Nook tent and use the secret phrase Tom gives you. When you say the secret phrase Tom will give you the Bridge Construction Kit. To Build the Bridge Construction Kit you need the following materials:
- 4x Log Stakes.
- 4x Clay.
- 4x Stone.
The stone and clay materials can be gathered by farming boulders while the Log Stakes are craftable items at any DIY Workbench. Once you have the required material create the Bridge Construction Kit to add it to your inventory.
How to Place a Bridge in Animal Crossing New Horizons
With the Bridge Construction Kit created (and in your inventory) head to the location you wish to place the bridge. Like Tents you can try multiple spots to ensure you like where the bridge is. Keep in mind placing a bridge requires finding a section of riverbank with the right width available. Once you have the spot picked out build the bridge. It takes one IRL day to complete.
Building a Bridge Through the Resident Services
Once you’ve completed a Bridge Construction Kit and the subsequent projects for Tom Nook you will unlock a renovated Resident Services building. Inside this building you can talk to Tom Nook about building infrastructure around the island. One form of infrastructure is bridges. The bridges you can buy from Tom are:
- Log Bridge – 98,000.
- Suspension Bridge – 129.800.
- Stone Bridge – 168,000.
- Wooden Bridge – 168,000.
- Brick Bridge – 198,000.
- Iron Bridge – 228,000.
- Red Zen Bridge – 228,000.
- Zen Bridge – 228,000.
That’s all you need to know to complete a bridge in Animal Crossing New Horizons. Building bridges is a good way to increase your movement speed around the island. It also means you no longer need to use the Vaulting Pole to cross the rivers.
