WESTGATE BRIDGE

Westgate Bridge

Westgate Bridge

The West Gate Bridge is one of Australia's biggest cable-stayed girder bridges. Its mighty 850 metre length soars high over the banks of the Yarra River, joining Melbourne's western suburbs to the CBD. Before the bridge was built, access to the city of Melbourne and suburbs to the east was possible only by travelling the old Geelong Road. Used by thousands of commuters daily, the journey from entrance to exit, including approach roads, covers 5.6 kilometres.

To most it is simply a bridge, albeit an impressive one. To many though, the bridge is a majestic memorial which they never traverse without a feeling of sadness and a silent farewell to workmates and loved ones who died when the bridge collapsed during its construction.

Synopsis

The West Gate Freeway Alliance (Baulderstone, Hyder Consulting, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Thiess and VicRoads) has been formed to design and construct road improvements along the West Gate Freeway, as part of the Victorian Government's planned Monash-City Link-West Gate AUD$1.4 billion upgrade to improve traffic flow and safety along Melbourne's increasingly congested transport spine. Scheduled for completion in 2010, works cover approximately 6km of freeway and include additional viaducts, structural widenings and road geometry modifications to accommodate new lanes and traffic separation according to destination, reducing the level of merging and providing an enhanced journey for users. Several structural design innovations have provided significant benefits for design, construction and functionality, including:

Maximising off-site production to optimise procurement and finish quality.

Standardisation of lengths and depths for design and construction savings.

Maximising use of pre-cast piers and existing viaduct/new structure connection details to reduce traffic disruptions.

Running all 3D models under one platform and providing a fully integrated system, allowing more detailed modelling and resulting in smoother construction.

The design process has benefited significantly from the project alliance environment, allowing a “best for project” approach, with all parties working together to produce the best outcomes. Throughout this project innovation has been developed without the usual restrictions of a traditional contract agreement, and adopting leading edge design practices.

Introduction

The Monash-CityLink-West Gate upgrade is a AUD$1.4 billion project aimed at improving traffic flow, travel times and safety along the increasingly congested Monash Freeway, CityLink, West Gate Freeway and West Gate Bridge, as part of the Victorian Government's (in partnership with Transurban) plan to improve the State's transport system and alleviate increasing traffic congestion.

The Victorian State Government, through its road authority VicRoads, entered into an alliance agreement in March 2007 with Baulderstone, Hyder Consulting, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Thiess, forming the West Gate Freeway Alliance to design and construct planned road improvements along the West Gate Freeway, the most complex of four sections of the project. The West Gate Freeway provides the crucial link between the West Gate Bridge, western suburbs and Geelong to the CityLink Tunnels, Melbourne Central Business District and eastern suburbs. A prominent element of the West Gate Freeway is the elevated viaduct, which runs along the majority of the Freeway.

The elevated section of the West Gate Freeway comprises of two independent carriageways currently ...