Pitt & Sherry awarded an Australian Engineering Excellence Award for the Kimberley Bridge
21 August 2018
Pitt &
Sherry:
"What has been achieved is remarkable”
TasRail former CEO Damien White
Australia's pre-eminent engineering awards, the Australian Engineering
Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate Australia's outstanding
engineering achievements.
pitt&sherry is delighted to share that we won an Australian Engineering
Excellence Award,
Tasmania for the
Kimberley Bridge Reconstruction. TasRail CEO Damien
White commented, "What has been achieved is remarkable".
The timeframe of 36 days for the
design and construction of a new
bridge
abutment and is testament to our collaborative approach. Our specialist
knowledge in the fields of hydrology, geotechnical engineering, bridge
design and construction engineering were rapidly utilised in a disaster
response situation. Working collaboratively with the constructor
VEC and
extending to other consultants and contractors including Engineering
Edge (now Rare) and Shaw the design and construction team were able to
slash the completion time to just 36 days, significantly less than
TasRail’s expectation of 4 to 6 months using a more traditional design
procurement approach.
Kimberley
Rail Bridge spans the Mersey River in Tasmania, as a critical part
of TasRail's
rail network. Built in 1884, the heritage bridge was
severely damaged during one of Tasmania’s worst flood events in June
2016. The restoration of the failed northern abutment, its adjacent
bridge span, and 200m of adjoining rail embankment allowed a return to
normal freight services 36 days after the flood event. This enabled
TasRail to resume normal operations and cease the expensive process of
carting all their freight by road. The open and clear collaboration
between the designers, contractor and asset owner was key in ensuring
that around-the-clock restoration work was expeditiously delivered,
despite the challenging weather conditions that persisted during the
works.
After the review, pitt&sherry undertook a forensic analysis of the
method of failure and concluded extreme floods mobilised debris that
exacerbated hydraulic loads, shifted floodplain flow paths and
accelerated scour at the bridge that eventually led to its failure.
pitt&sherry possess advanced hydrologic, hydraulic and scour modelling
capabilities that inform flood recovery and flood mitigation designs
that came to the fore during the Kimberly Rail Bridge project. Our
expertise in this area extends from bridges, hydraulic infrastructure,
flood levees, floodplain management, modelling, flood risk assessments,
spillways, rail and road design. For further information please contact
one of our specialists across the transport, rail or bridge sectors.
--ENDS--
Source: pitt&sherry - www.pittsh.com.au
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