Borger Crane Hire and Rigging, in conjunction with joint venture partners Ferrovial and Gamuda, recently lifted into place the Luke Bowen Bridge, a key element of the Coffs Harbour Bypass project in New South Wales. The new pedestrian bridge spans a total eight lanes over the Pacific Highway and two local roads.
Both the Australian and NSW Governments are investing in the 14-kilometre project which is designed to boost the regional economy and improve connectivity, road transport efficiency and safety for local and interstate motorists.
The Gamuda and Ferrovial joint venture is delivering the major package of work through a collaborative Design and Construct contract with Transport for NSW. With a focus on innovation, efficiency and value for money, the project includes three tunnels, about 11 kilometres of new road and about 3.5 kilometres of upgraded highway.
The Luke Bowen Bridge lift was not without its challenges, explains Dean Tauasa – better known as “Dingo” in the industry – who is the National Lifting and Rigging Manager for Gamuda. Dean has been with Gamuda for two and a half years, having worked with John Holland and Melrose Crane Hire on projects such as the Rozelle Interchange, Waterloo Station, WestConnex (M8) and Northwest Rapid Transit (NRT) just to name a few.
“For this project, we went with Borger Cranes for all of our big lifts, we did look at local providers, but the largest capacity crane available was a 250t and that simply would not cut it when it came to the Super T girders and big lifts. We needed a large capacity crane, mainly due to the size of the bridge, and so we decided on Borger’s 650t capacity LTM 1650-8.1. We’ve had the LTM 1650-8.1 up here quite a few times for majority of our bridges, we even had the LTM 1750-9.1 on the project for the very first bridge girder installation back in May,” said Dean.
“When it comes to craneage, Borger Cranes is well known for the services they provide throughout the construction industry. I have known and admired them for many years, but my working relationship didn’t start until they were engaged as a supplier for the Rozelle Interchange project. With branches in Sydney, Newcastle and South East Queensland, and with the location of this project, Borgers have been able to supply us with large capacity cranes, from both sides of the border. Nathan and Shawn Borger as well as Matt Steain, Borger Cranes Heavy Lift Supervisor, have been very supportive and accommodating, working in with the requirements of the project to help meet specific and tight deadlines,” he said.
With the Pacific Highway being the main arterial road between New South Wales and Queensland, disruption to traffic had to kept to a minimum – which required meticulous planning, explains Dean.
“We were given a window from 7pm until midnight for the closure of the northbound lanes, to allow us to set up the crane. From midnight we closed the entire highway, and we had until 3am (max) to complete the installation. Heavy vehicles were parked up both north and south of the crane setup, with light vehicles and emergency services being diverted via a local road. By 6am we had to have everything packed away and off the road for the highway to open to the full four lanes again,” he said.
The set up for the crane wasn’t ideal as it was on a significant incline, and the dimensions of the bridge were also a complicating factor, said Dean.
“Weight wise, the bridge was quite manageable, coming in at about 80 tonnes, but the bridge was a single span construction 61 metres long, 4.5 metres tall and 5 metres wide. We also had to set the crane up on a hill, which meant packing the underside of the front of the crane with TRT mats and timbers. We used a 100t capacity all terrain and a Franna from Coffs City Cranes to assist in the build of the crane and the preparation for the lift,” said Dean.
The lift was more than 18 months in the planning, says Dean, with Tom Patterson (FGJV Senior Project Engineer) leading the charge alongside Transport for NSW project team members.
“There were all sorts of factors influencing the timing of the lift. Obviously, Tom and his team worked closely with the fabricator of the bridge to understand when it would be ready for transporting and examine the best ways of getting it to site and ready for lifting. We also had to factor in constraints including the NSW and Queensland school holidays so as to minimise the disruption for road users,” he said.
Dean explains how detailed the planning had to be and how closely he and the team at Borger Cranes worked on planning every aspect of the lift.
“A week before the lift we met the Borger Cranes’ team on site, and we went through an hour-by-hour planning session. The bridge was already on site sitting on stands so we were able to get a good look at what we were lifting.
“When the Liebherr LTM 1650-8.1 got to site the following week, we picked up the bridge and loaded it onto the Jinker which would get it into position for lifting. This loading process proved a good option,” said Dean.
“Because the lift wasn’t scheduled for a couple of days, moving it to the Jinker provided a good opportunity for us to work with the rigging and make adjustments if required. There was a Crossfall on the bridge and we needed to ensure that the rigging was in the correct positions to get the Crossfall right. We made some adjustments and got the bridge onto the Jinker. When it came to the actual lift, we hooked down and got the rigging back on the hook and proceeded with the lift,” he said.
“The rigging featured a spreader bar the width of the bridge and that was right at the top of the rigging and then we had some very long slings which attached to engineered lifting points on top of the bridge. The LTM Liebherr 1650-8.1 proved ideal. Although the bridge only weighed 80t, we needed a lot of ‘boom out’ to allow for the rigging lengths as well as the required head height to get the bridge into position,” said Dean.
Dean paid tribute to all parties involved.
“The success of this lift is the result of the tireless work put in by everyone, including the client (Transport for NSW), subcontractors including Borger Cranes, Goldsprings Heavy Haulage, Coffs City Cranes, Coates Hire and Civmec. We are grateful to the expertise from the Ferrovial Gamuda Joint Venture Project and Site teams including Adrian Hawkins, Tom Patterson, Borja Llanos and Jamie Mason along with their respective teams. With the support of the Project Safety Team and Senior Management, this complex lift was completed and delivered safely and successfully,” said Dean.
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