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Major milestone for Lower Hatea River Crossing
Media Release
15 March 2012
Major
milestone for Lower Hatea River Crossing
Another major milestone in the construction of the $30 million Lower Hatea Crossing will take place at noon tomorrow, when the first pile for the bridge will be installed.
“We have done a lot of work on the lead up to the bridge on either side of the River,” said Project Director Simon Weston.
“We are developing the foundations for the Riverside Drive and Port Road roundabouts and have put in a temporary jetty so we can get the crane and other vehicles and equipment out over the water, but this is the first major step in the construction of the bridge itself.”
The foundations for the bridge’s piers requires cells to be constructed from sheet piles, hammered into the seabed where each pile will be located.
These cells form an almost water-tight box called a coffer dam. The water is then pumped out of the coffer dam and excavators are lowered into the coffer dam to remove the sediment to the right depth prior to the piles to be driven in. There are 12 piles for most piers apart from the piers supporting the lifting span which will have 18 piles. The sediment is loaded into trucks and taken away.
“The piles are hollow steel tubes 610 mm in diameter. These will be driven into the exposed ground to a depth of up to 28m below water level,” Mr Weston said.
“The area around the top of the piles is boxed and concrete is poured to create a strong pile cap foundation for the bridge’s piers to be attached to. These pile cap foundations will be invisible when the bridge is completed because they will be below the level of the mud or under water.”
The piles for the piers on the Pohe Island side of the bridge are being done first. When they are completed the temporary jetty will be moved to the Port Road side of the River and the same coffer dam, pile-driving and foundation laying process will take place for the piers of that side of the bridge.
“It is great to see this progress being made on the actual bridge itself. It won’t be long before people start to see quite a lot of work happening above the water and parts of the bridge starting to take shape.”
The bridge is
due to be completed in winter next year.
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