Case
Studies

The New England Highway Upgrade was an extremely challenging and complex project, in large part due to the nature of the site and terrain and the remoteness of the project. Scope of works involved the construction of a 320-metre reinforced concrete box girder bridge, using balanced cantilever construction and post-tensioned construction methods.

Consisting of 61 concrete segments, the bridge style selected ensured a single span of 150-metres over the environmentally protected areas. An innovative approach was required to undertake in-situ concrete placement over an excluded environmentally protected area. In-situ concrete placement allowed for the footprint of construction to be minimised verses that of a precast box girder.

Additionally, the project also included:

• Construction of a narrow and effective access track and crane platform at the pieres to further protect those areas.
• Supporting plant including cranes and concrete pumps required innovative design considerations to provide suitable large radius to avoid these areas.
• Complex recovery of the formwork traveller system using four large cranes.

The bridge is considered the steepest balanced cantilever bridge constructed in Australia, with a grade of 8.2%, built into a range with a 40-degree slope some 42-metres in height. The grade challenged the team to innovate from the traditional method of construction including critical fail-safe breaking controls for the formwork traveller systems, formwork recovery methods and concrete placement methods.