Express Route

Location:	Port Adelaide, South Australia
Country:	Australia
Project Size:	A$10 million
Client:	Transport SA Lead Contractor: Bardavcol Pty Limited
Engineer:	GHD Pty Ltd
Builder:	York Civil
Fabricator:	Air Ride Technologies
Products Used:	AS/NZS 3678 - 350 XLERPLATE®

Leading South Australian steel fabrication company, Air Ride Technologies, is involved in the construction of a new 270 metre long bridge in Port Adelaide, SA, as part of the Port River Expressway Stage One project.

The Port River Expressway is a major road and rail transport infrastructure project, which will form a strategically important transport link for South Australia. The new expressway will link the State's major port and rail terminals at the Port of Adelaide directly with the National Highway to Perth and Darwin, and the National Highway to Sydney and Melbourne. 

It is expected that the expressway will offer enormous benefits for South Australia's wheat, agriculture and export wine industries, as well as the ability of rural producers to market their products more cost effectively. The road will also help stimulate redevelopment of historic Port Adelaide. 

Stage One consists of a 5.5 km expressway, which will carry up to 55,000 vehicles per day by 2020. The project involves the construction of a new bridge, spanning over Eastern Parade and the adjacent railway line. 

York Civil is constructing the A$10 million bridge for Bardavcol Pty limited as part of Transport SA's A$83 million project, which will be painted an eye catching bright blue. "The bridge is constructed of steel box girders, of spans up to 32 metres long. Steel was chosen as the logical construction material due to its cost efficiency, and also for the speed and ease of construction", explains Derek Fabel of York Civil. 

Air Ride has fabricated all the structural steel for the four lane bridge at their Islington workshop, which will be one of the largest bridges in the Adelaide metropolitan area. "We are responsible for the working drawings, fabrication, stud welding and painting of the bridge's beams", says Peter Hall of Air Ride. "York Civil will then deliver the beams to site and erect them".

Air Ride was approached by York Civil for the A$2.4 million contract. "We've fabricated bridge beams for York Civil on other projects", says Peter. "They knew that we had the experience and the resources to complete the job successfully."

Air Ride is supplying 36 beams for the bridge, which equals nine spans. "The beams range in length from 15 metres to 32 metres, and in weight from 15 tonnes to 22 tonnes", says Peter Hall. "All up, we are using about 800 tonnes of steel for the project".

All the steel used for this project was 350 grade XLERPLATE® hot rolled plate steel from BlueScope Steel. Smorgon Steel, one of BlueScope Steel's distributors processed the XLERPLATE® steel at their Ottoway plant. "We choose to use XLERPLATE® steel because it is locally produced, Australian made product. On a fast track project like this, it's also more convenient in terms of delivery, especially when compared to imported steel. Delivery of overseas plate sometimes takes a long time, and we can't afford delays on a high profile job like this". 

According to Peter, the job has progressed very successfully. "We've been dealing with a pretty tight deadline, but the job has been very straightforward so far, there have been no major challenges".

The ability to work to tight deadlines is a crucial factor in the job's success, says Peter, and so is a reliable supplier: "It's the first stage of the job, whatever goes wrong in the beginning affects the whole job. If the steel is not in good condition, or the paperwork is missing, this results in delays. The overall delivery is very important to us".

Fabrication for the bridge commenced in September 2003, and it is expected to be completed by the end of July 2004.