Red Hill Road Rail Bridge, Wagga Wagga

In a good demonstration of public authority and private industry cooperation, the Red Hill Road Bridge was successfully launched on 3 January 2007 by the project team of Wagga Wagga City Council (WWCC), GHD, Nelmac Pty Ltd and Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC).

The overall purpose of the rail bridge project was to link Red Hill Rd to the Olympic Highway.  Red Hill Rd is an arterial orbital road that traverses the south end of Wagga Wagga, generally in an east-west direction.  It ended at the south side of the Main Southern Rail Line but it was desired to extend the road underneath the rail line through to the adjacent Olympic Highway. 

Wagga Wagga City Council intended to carry out extension works on Red Hill Rd, such that the road was completed on both sides of the rail line apart from the missing link underneath the railway embankment.The railway embankment at the location was approximately 8-9 m above the surrounding natural surface.  The designed road surface underneath the embankment was some 7.2 m below the rail tracks.  The proposed structure needed to achieve a minimum clearance of 5.4 m above the road design surface.ARTC had substantial input into the design process. 

Their requirements included:

• Design a bridge structure to take the existing single rail line; and
• Design abutments to allow for a proposed future adjacent line.

Constructions of full-width abutments were carried out, but only a single-track superstructure was built.  A condition of the project going ahead was that disruption to rail services was not to occur at all during construction.  The piling and abutment construction processes were successfully completed without delay to rail traffic.  A four-day full track possession, over the New Year period, was used to install the superstructure and replace the track infrastructure.

Following commissioning of the new bridge superstructure shortly after installation, excavation of the embankment underneath the bridge and construction of retaining walls was completed.  This allowed WWCC to complete the road link and allow road traffic access to the Olympic Highway via Red Hill Rd.

Because usual design, tender and construction processes were compressed, the project team of WWCC, GHD, Nelmac and ARTC were in constant communication to develop new work practices and streamline processes to deliver the works on time and on budget.  In project managing the works, GHD drew on resources from its Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra offices to work closely with Wagga staff.

Project Manager Scott Farrell joined the GHD team in April 2006 after 11 years with Wagga Wagga City Council and Ryde City Council (Sydney).  Scott has developed a broad experience base across a range of activities including: design; construction supervision; contract administration and project management in the areas of urban development, rural and urban road projects, public infrastructure works and recreational facilities projects.