Single Lane SwiftLift
Repair and rehabilitation of rural road bridges is a major issue for governments and road authorities around Australia. The NSW RTA has developed an innovative approach to replacing the road decks on timber trestle bridges.
Spanning the Hunter river at Morpeth, the Main Road bridge is typical of the single lane, timber structures that form vital communication links for hundreds of rural communities. Many of these bridges are over 100 years old, and while the basic structure may be sound, the original timber decks aren’t an economically viable option for carrying the loads imposed by the heavy, multi-axle, multi-trailer trucks that have largely replaced rail as the primary means of moving farm produce to market.
The bridge at Morpeth is a timber truss girder design that dates from ????. The south bank of the river is several metres higher than the level of the river flood plain on the north bank so a long, timber trestle structure brings traffic to the northern end of the bridge. When the time came to replace the trestle deck the RTA chose to use a composite timber / concrete technique orginally trialled in 2005 on a bridge over the Paterson River at nearby Hinton.
Following a thorough survey of the existing deck and supporting beams, the first step of the rehabilitation process is the fabrication of a timber deck frame on site. Each frame is precisely tailored to correspond to the existing longitudinal bearers and cross members that it will eventually replace.
The frame is then shipped to the precast yard, where the new road deck is cast and attched to the timber frames. Each deck unit is fitted with four 150mm Reid™ SwiftLift™ foot anchors to enable fast and safe lifting of the composite decks in the precast yard, onto and off road transport, and into place in the structure.
Rod Whitton, Design Team Leader for the NSW RTA’s Bridge Rehab Unit said “Based on our experience with the Hinton bridge rehabilitation, we didn’t hesitate to choose Reid’s SwiftLift system for the Morpeth project. It’s an excellent system, very durable and saves erection time, and comrises much more than the physical hardware. Reid offered full engineering support throught the project with lifting certifications for the deck units.
Morpeth Bridge is just one of hundreds of single lane bridges around rural Australia. Extensive road closures seriously disrupt communities where road is the only viable form of transport. Time efficient construction solutions for the replacement of bridge decks is vital - solutions which Reid is uniquely positioned to supply.
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