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Some 1,500 bridges across SA to be reviewed in wake of South Rd closure

Monday, 23 Jan 2017 14:22:40 | Isabel Dayman

The Bakewell Underpass in Adelaide is among 1,500 bridges to be reviewed. (ABC News: Malcolm Sutton)

The condition of 1,500 bridge structures across South Australia will be reviewed after structural problems with a tram overpass forced the partial closure of South Road last week.

The Government has appointed international engineering firm Aurecon to conduct a "thorough and comprehensive external review" into what caused a pedestrian and cycling path on the overpass to shift off its bearings.

But Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Stephen Mullighan said the Government would also engage further external help to undertake a review of all the state's bridges.

"This is an additional, extra check of all of our bridges, on top of what our regular inspection regime is, to provide both ourselves, but importantly the public, with an extra level of confidence about the condition of our bridges across the state," he said.

Structural issues last week forced the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure to close a 1.6-kilometre stretch of South Road in Adelaide's inner-south-west for five days, causing massive traffic delays and losses for local businesses.

Temporary works to shore up the overpass were completed on Saturday night and South Road reopened on Sunday morning.

Mr Mullighan said Aurecon would provide "independent experts" that were not involved in the original construction of the South Road tram overpass to complete the review.

"The review … together with a review of other bridges, will enable the public to have full confidence in the condition [of] existing bridge structures," he said.

Mr Mullighan said Aurecon had a range of experts who had worked on bridge structures nationwide.

He said the Government wanted the review to reveal "firstly what went wrong with this part of the tram overpass, but also what we can do to fix this issue and ensure that we don't have this same problem again with this piece of infrastructure".

"We'll also be asking Aurecon to review how the Government goes about its bridge maintenance and inspection regime, to provide us with some advice and analysis, not just on how we do it, but whether it's being done according to contemporary industry standards," Mr Mullighan said.

He said it was not yet clear how long the external review would take to complete, or when a permanent fix would be completed.

Workmen inspect the South Road overpass. Photo: The South Road tram overpass will be reviewed by Aurecon. (ABC News: Malcolm Sutton)

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