TERRABILE CREEK BRIDGE

Client: Gilgandra Shire Council

Project: Terrabile Creek Bridge Replacement, Curban NSW

Barnson’s Role: Hydraulic study, geotechnical report, review of environmental factors, tendering, and contracts administration

Time frame: Construction started January 2014 and the bridge opened May 2014.

The Terrabile Creek Bridge has long been a part of the Curban community, particularly for farmers transporting grain after harvest. But the ageing timber bridge to the north of Gilgandra had become increasingly unreliable.

While the bridge was sturdy, it was not strong enough for heavy traffic and had been downgraded to a 12-tonne limit. As the bridge is the only way out of the area in times of serious flooding, its replacement was very important to Curban residents.

Thanks to a low interest loan from the NSW Government, Gilgandra Shire replaced the bridge with a $1.2 million 60m two-lane pre-cast concrete structure, eight metres wide.

The Civil Engineering team drew multiple schematics showing the curvature of the southern approach for different design speeds. These were then overlayed onto the survey of the existing road to determine which design speed would reduce the cut and fill. This is so the design speed could be maximised, but stay within budget.

Although the 12-week construction period was hampered by wet weather earlier in the year, Gilgandra Shire Council officially opened the bridge in May 2014.