10 years ago today the 2nd Gateway Bridge in Brisbane was opened to traffic. Jonathan Davies worked on the project with VSL for 3 years and it was one of the most rewarding projects of his career. The Leighton, Abigroup, and VSL alliance put together a high-performing team, and not only was there a great atmosphere on-site and a good Client / Contractor relationship ship but he also made some great and lasting friendships.
The job wasn’t perfect but there were some really smart decisions made early on which allowed the bridge to be put together quickly and safely. There was a clear goal not to repeat some of the problems they had on the first bridge and the 300-year design life definitely added to the challenge. Jonathan was looking after the precast segmental approaches of the bridge which had their own challenges at 5% grade and up to 210-tonne halving joints segments that had to be built as a balanced cantilever.
Constructing the approaches we used a combination of a 600t crawler crane and overhead launching gantry to erect the segments and with the precasting factory just adjacent to the north approach structure we were never short of the required 742 segments. The precasting facility was also a testament to the project as all the precast items were produced there including 1000 Super T’s and 50,000 m Octagonal piles plus noise walls and parapets with very few rejected products.
The centerpiece was of course the 260m main span with 50m high piers and 16m deep boxes. These constraints required some really innovative designs and construction methods and it was a pleasure to watch this on a daily basis from the safety of the approach spans.
Overall, Jonathan feels very fortunate to have been a part of this project and hopes to work on such a great project with the same people again in the future.
Have projects we can help you with? Contact Jonathan Davies.
