Seymour Whyte delivers Australian first at Port of Brisbane
05 October 2017
Seymour Whyte has successfully
installed Australia’s longest pre-stressed
bridge girders for the
Port
of Brisbane’s $110 million
Port Drive Upgrade project, with the longest
span measuring 46m.
The design, production, transportation and installation of the Super
I-girders were a culmination of 12 months of planning by the project
team, which comprised
QLD Department of Transport and Main Roads,
Seymour Whyte, our client Port of Brisbane and designer
Arup. The team
worked to develop the girders for a key component of the Port Drive
Upgrade – the three-span Lucinda Drive Bridge, which extends 103m over
road and rail.
Seymour Whyte Managing Director and CEO Mr John Kirkwood said the girder
was developed to remove the risk of working in close proximity to, or
having to relocate, a live 33kV underground electricity power supply
within the four-line railway corridor. The girder also negated the need
for construction or future maintenance work associated with the new
bridge within the rail corridor – both major safety benefits considering
the live rail environment and its constraints.
“Seymour Whyte is delighted to be part of this project,” he said. “To be
part of something big, something innovative that hasn’t been done in
Australian before, gives a lot of satisfaction at the company level, the
site team and for all our employees and consultants who are involved.”
Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd CEO Mr Roy Cummins said, “Our Port Drive
Upgrade project is primarily focused on safety, efficiency and
innovation. The design and placement of these Super I-girders –being the
longest on any road project in the country – achieves all of these.”
The Super I-girders are one of several major innovations for the project
which also incorporates the placement of around 50,000 tonnes of EME2
asphalt – the largest amount placed on a road in Australia. Seymour
Whyte worked with the Department of Transport and Main Roads to develop
a traffic management plan to get the girders from Beaudesert (80km south
of Brisbane) to site on the back of a 79m long haulage vehicle
consisting of up to two prime movers and two Goldhofer
independently-operated hydraulic trailers.
The logistical complexities of safely managing such a feat called for a
156km haulage route to avoid built-up areas and ensure the roads
travelled could handle such large and heavy vehicles. Each girder took
an overnight journey of up to nine hours. Once at site, a 630-tonne
(400T+230T counter weight) crawler
crane was required to lift the
girders, with the 46m one weighing some 140 tonnes.
The project is also targeting an ‘Excellent’ rating for ‘Design’ and
‘As-Built’ with the
Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia
(ISCA). More than 3.1 million vehicles travel on port roads every year
and when complete, the $110 million Port Drive Upgrade project will
deliver greater safety and efficiency for decades to come.
--ENDS--
Source: Seymour Whyte - www.seymourwhyte.com.au
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