Christchurch could become `the city of bridges’

November 18, 2013

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Alessandro Palermo

One of New Zealand’s leading academic bridge builders believes post-quake Christchurch could switch from being known as the garden city to the city of bridges.

University of Canterbury (UC) civil and natural resources engineering senior lecturer Dr Alessandro Palermo has been working closely with industry on new bridge designs following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

``We have an opportunity in Christchurch not just to fix bridges but to have many pedestrians walking over our rivers throughout the city which will have benefits in the long run with tourists.

``The future of Christchurch could be the city of iconic bridges instead of the garden city.’’

Dr Palermo, who has received awards for his bridge building research, will give a public talk about bridges at UC on Wednesday, November 20. See a YouTube preview video clip here: http://youtu.be/ZBOeIAQfM_w.

Dr Palermo will talk about the history of Christchurch bridges, how they performed in the earthquakes and how bridges could be seismically improved.

The Avon and Heathcote rivers embrace Christchurch city. Their winding paths, combined with the road network, create a unique environment with more than 250 bridges in the city.

Although no bridge collapsed in the earthquakes, the city has been disrupted by the loss of functionality of many bridges. More than 50 percent of bridges need repair work or to be replaced. The Avon river precinct in the CBD will be conceived with new pedestrian bridges.

``In the next five years Christchurch has the opportunity for a change. How can we turn Christchurch into the city of bridges?

``Should we invest resources and funds for more iconic bridges? Can we improve the post-earthquake functionality of our bridges or are we prepared to accept the same traffic disruption we had in 2011? At UC we are working with the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) as we plan for the future.

``Although, there are not many bridge engineers in New Zealand, the hope is to stimulate the creativity and will for innovation for the next generation of bridge engineers.

``UC has produced some prominent bridge designers who are in the front line of the Christchurch rebuild including Mike Cowan, head of bridge engineering division in OPUS (Christchurch) and Nik Stewart, head of bridge division in BECA (Christchurch) .’’

Dr Palermo was recently awarded UC’s Innovation Medal along with Professor Andy Buchanan and Associate Professor Stefano Pampanin for their innovative contribution to new earthquake-resistant structures.

ENDS

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