Today's Goulburn Post has an update re progress on the bridge. Note that it will be 5 meters above the river, so there should be plenty of access to the downstream side. The story has a couple of pics, which are interesting.
http://www.goulburnpost.com.au/story/3146559/work-progresses-on-oallen-ford-bridge/?cs=181#slide=2
WORK is steadily progressing on the new bridge over the Shoalhaven River at Oallen Ford.
Once the accompanying roadworks are completed, the new bridge looks set to be opening by the end of August.
Goulburn Mulwaree Operations Director Matt ORourke said all of the foundation concrete was now in place.
The columns to support the bridge deck are almost complete and the contractor has mobilised a crane to begin erecting the bridge deck, Mr ORourke said.
The bridge deck structure is a combination of precast concrete units (planks) plus a 120m long in-situ reinforced concrete deck. The planks are all expected to be in place by late June 2015."
He said the the first half of the bridge deck will be poured late June 2015 and the second half early July 2015, with guardrail to be constructed along the new bridge at the completion of the bridge deck.
Mr ORourke said the bridge construction had been stalled by about a month due to rain.
Due to significant rain throughout April the project has been delayed due to site inundation from the Shoalhaven River, Mr ORourke said.
Mr ORourke said the Oallen Ford Road bridge approaches would commence when the bridge construction was nearing completion.
Goulburn Mulwaree Council will complete the new bridge approaches in August 2015. This will require road closure to incorporate the new bridge alignment into the existing road alignment. At this stage the new bridge should be open to traffic by the end of August 2015, he said.
Some road closures will be required later on to integrate the new bridge approaches into the existing road - meanwhile, the existing road is open for traffic.
I am really happy with the progress - it is going well. It has been a challenging job with the rain and river rises as well as construction occurring in winter and also working at heights. It has required a bit more thought about things than most other projects.
He said the project was currently progressing according to budget.
The total cost of the new bridge would be around $3 million and that the project was largely funded ($2.2m) by the Roads and Maritime Services.Council will fund the bridge approaches.
When it is complete, the bridge will be five metres above the Shoalhaven River and 120m in length. It will allow passage up to a one in 20-year flood.
