Bridge Rehabilitation... future-proofed!

The Problem

Timber road bridges, pedestrian bridges, jetties, and boardwalks are increasingly displaying signs of severe deterioration and loss of structural capacity through environmental weathering, vermin attack (marine borers/termites) and splitting of timber piles and girders. The overall result is that both piles, girders, headstocks, bracing, and handrails have vastly reduced load bearing capacities, resulting in either load restrictions or closure of critical infrastructure, as well as increasing the risk to the public through catastrophic failure while in use.

The Solution

The cost of replacing timber structures with a new bridge can be prohibitive, so replacing individual members, or restoring the bridge elements to full load bearing capacity (and in some cases increasing capacity), is an ideal approach and is possible with our fibre composite “FutureBeam” and “FuturePile” solutions. This system had its origins in the development of a fibre composite pile replacement system for Shorncliffe Pier and was then progressed to a solution for road and pedestrian bridges.

The Results

Having all components manufactured utilising our state of the art resin infusion process in our Toowoomba factory reduces the downtime of bridges considerably which is of high convenience for councils. The manufactured bridge components will usually be less than half the weight of their timber equivalents which is ideal for easy and fast installation.