13 October 2010

Tharwa Bridge update

| oddball508
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Crossing Tharwa Bridge this morning we were handed an update notice on the current progress and upcoming closure dates as the work continues. Very handy and I’m glad that the information is being passed on well before the actual closures – thanks.

For others who have not seen the closes, they are 8:30am to 3:30pm Monday, October 18th to Friday, November 12th

But reading further my attention has been drawn to this line.

“The project is running on time and is currently being delivered within the budget of $26 million.”

What an amazing is the massive waste of money this project is. Let’s look at what remains of the “significant heritage” referred to later in the notice. So far the footings and the under support of the bridge has been replaced. The deck and the trusses are about to be replaced. The only things that are original are the columns and the original linen plans! Not to mention that the trusses had to be made from old growth forest timber.

Would it not have been better to keep the old bridge for cycle & foot traffic and create a park around it? That way people could stop and enjoy the “heritage” value rather than just driving past.

I do remember that before this project started that a new, two lane bridge could have been built at a cost of $9million. If this was the cost then I do not think that making a park land around the old would have cost the rest of the $15 million!

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I did forget to add to this.
No matter what oppions there are about the wisdom of the amount of money being spent of this project it should be noted that the quallity of the work and its organisation has been great.

that bridge will be like my favourite hammer, it belonged to my grandfather – it’s had three new handles and two new heads, but it’s still his hammer! 🙂

oddball508 said :

The river has been flowing well since the February 2010 flooding. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/25223017@N00/4363793736/in/set-72157622922142043/

But it won’t be long before the sand banks return 🙂

Yar, I have lived in Tuggeranong since 1994 & have travelled the Bobyan Road many times & have never seen the river that high before. Noice.

The river has been flowing well since the February 2010 flooding. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/25223017@N00/4363793736/in/set-72157622922142043/

But it won’t be long before the sand banks return 🙂

Holden Caulfield11:39 am 13 Oct 10

But it’s a good test of your car’s in-dash CD player. If your CDs skip when you drive across the bridge, you need to get a new head unit, haha.

Captain RAAF11:39 am 13 Oct 10

I’d like to see someone build a bridge that long for $9 million! 10 years ago maybe!!

I actually like the old bridge, me being into old things like that, but agree with the OP, it should have been preserved as it was as a pedestrian/cycle path over the tumultuous river below….I mean sand hills and gravel beds.

Could have just extended the banks inwards with all the dirt from the Kings Ave overpass and ended up with a three foot concrete drain because aint no way that river’s coming back again…..until the great flood of 2011!

troll-sniffer11:13 am 13 Oct 10

If I were president (and you lot of whingers can thank your lucky stars I’m not) I would make all heritage projects and campaigns be accountable for their costs. So if a bunch of whiney heritage types wanted to save a bridge well past its demolition and replacement date, they would have to fund any costs over and above any plans that fair-minded responsible engineers had formulated. In the case of this so-called heritage bridge, which after all was just a bunch of beams and trusses constructed to serve a purpose for a known limited lifespan, the heritage whiners who insisted on repairing and restoring rather than replacing would have been given the $9 million and they would have been responsible for finding the rest.

It’d be an interesting exercise to see just how heritage-worthy the old bridge would have been if the whingeing set had to stump up $17 million themselves!

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