Abigroup has started construction on what will become Australia’s longest operating road bridge, close to Kempsey in northern NSW.

 

The Macleay River and Floodplain Bridge will be 3.2km long and Abigroup is responsible for the design and construction of the $185 million project for the Roads & Transport Authority.

 

The first of the 394 piles, which will form the bridge’s foundations, was driven into the ground at a ceremony held on 21 July to mark the start of work.

 

The structure will eventually span the Macleay River in the north – a distance of about 300 metres – and the floodplain to the south.

The design also calls for 93 support piers, including eight in the river, spaced 34 metres apart, with the deck of the bridge to be formed using 941 concrete beams – or ‘super-T’ girders – each weighing 65 tonnes.

 

The bridge forms part of the Federally funded Kempsey Bypass which will consist of a 14.5-kilometre, four-lane divided road to the east of the existing Pacific Highway.

 

Abigroup’s 100 per cent owned subsidiary Australian Precast Solutions will produce the 941 Super-T girders required for this landmark project. Abigroup secured the Macleay River and Floodplain Bridge project at the end of 2010.