The existing two span timber truss bridge was designed by Percy Allen, the famous pioneer of bridge construction in Australia and would have been built prior to 1899. It is remarkable that it still carried traffic up until we demolished it in late November 2013. Unfortunately, the cost of maintenance has condemned all of the old timber truss bridges to demolition.
We removed the bridge with a controlled collapse [after first removing the deck] and winched the still intact truss up onto the river bank for dismantling and recycling of the massive timber components.
The new bridge is a 2 x 25m span of prestressed girder with composite concrete deck supported on a central pier founded on 2 x 1200mm diameter piles anchored into rock. The pier and headstock are precast and are anchored with the piles.
Cast insitu wall abutments on bored piers will support the spans on the river banks.
There will also be a pedestrian walkway on one side of the bridge.
The site is in an extremely environmentally sensitive area, being a Platypus habitat.
