PROJECTS
EAST ARM RAIL BRIDGE – EMERGENCY REPAIR & REPLACEMENT
LOCATION: East Tamar Highway, Northern Tasmania
STATUS: Completed
An emergency occurred when a truck carrying an excavator collided with the East Arm rail bridge over the East Tamar Highway. The bridge was badly damaged and resulted in the highway being closed whilst engineering assessments were made
Initial securing works by VEC enabled two lanes of the highway to be reopened to traffic the following day. Over the ensuing nine days a temporary propping solution was designed and implemented, allowing the resumption of rail on the vital Bell Bay rail line.
During the next six weeks a replacement concrete bridge was designed and manufactured. Then, during just a two-day closure of the highway over a weekend period, the damaged bridge was removed and the new structure installed. This removed restrictions on rail movements and enabled the road to be reopened to three lanes of traffic.
The project was completed within incredibly tight time frames that minimised disruption to all traffic flow. Innovative beam erection techniques were employed and the new superstructure bridge now has a 100-year life span. The final solution also resulted in a 300mm higher road clearance bridge to minimise the chance of the incident reoccurring.
