Mitchells Bridge Upgrade
In early 2020, 12P Consulting was engaged by Towong Shire Council to manage the delivery of a replacement bridge on Guys Forest Rd in Burrowye with funding from the Federal Government’s Bridges Renewal Fund. The old bridge consisted of a composite steel beam and timber deck and had reached the end of its useful life. The project involved the management of the entire bridge design and construction process including,
Coordination of planning approval,
Procurement of the structural design,
Management of the construction tender process including tender assessment and award,
Assuming the role of Council’s superintendent during the construction works
The old timber and steel bridge
Following a rigorous construction tender assessment, 12P Consulting and Towong Shire Council awarded the construction contract to local bridge builder Mark Van de Ven.
Construction began on the site in mid 2020. 12P Consulting’s Civil Engineer Tim Shilling assisted the contractor with fine tuning the new alignment with the aid of a number of aerial surveys during the project to ensure that the design intent was maintained while also dealing with the constraints on site.
With a background in Geotechnical Engineering, 12P Consulting was able to undertake rock strength verification for the anchor placement and a number of other construction verification tasks in-house. This collaborative process allowed the construction process to progress without the delays associated with subcontracting additional third party engineers.
The new bridge design consisted of steel girders supporting precast concrete deck units on concrete abutments with 1.8m deep rock anchors. The contractor poured all the deck units in Wodonga before commencing any site works. This reduced the total site time dramatically and meant that the road closure time was minimised.
