Coppabella Creek Suspension Bridge
The Hume and Hovell Track is an epic 426km walking trail in the south east of NSW that traverses rugged and beautiful countryside following a mix of public roads, fire trails, purpose built single track and over 100 footbridges. The crossing over Coppabella Creek south of Tumbarumba is the last remaining major river without a viable crossing. Previously, a river ford was in place where walkers would have to wade through, however recent floods have washed away the ford, making crossing this stretch of creek difficult and at times dangerous.
In keeping with the other major bridges on the track, a steel suspension bridge structure was proposed to facilitate safe crossing of the Coppabella Creek. 12P Consulting has been appointed as the capital works project managers on the Hume and Hovell Track since 2015 and has been involved in the specification, procurement and construction management of major and minor capital works on the track.
To support the feasibility study for the new bridge, 12P Consulting was engaged to undertake a feature and level survey of the site and in conjunction with a registered surveyor, the original easement for the track was re-established. This enabled reliable planning for the structure and the preparation of an engineering cost estimate.
A bridge design was comissioned through an open tender process in 2021 which resulted in Wright Consulting Engineers being awarded the project for design. The project was tendered for construction in late 2021 and construction is scheduled to commence in April 2022.
A 3D model of a generic suspension bridge was imported into the 3D terrain model of the site to determine the appropriate span for the site and to fulfil DA requirements
Above: Interactive 360 degree aerial panorama of Coppabella Creek.
