Aberdeen’s northbound Fitzgerald Bridge over the Hunter River, built in 1986, has been dismantled in a massive crane lift and heavy haulage operation.
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More than a dozen crane, rigger, welding and trucking specialists from Nelmac, Borger Cranes and Tutt Bryant were part of the delicate lift.
Most of Aberdeen’s residents were oblivious to the historic civil engineering feat unfolding while they slept, waking to find the bridge that had been part of their lives for nearly 30 years all but gone from its moorings.
Co-owner of Borger Cranes, Nathan Borger, says two German-made Liebherr cranes, each with a maximum lift capacity of 500 tonnes, were “bumped in” at either end of the new Fitzgerald Bridge in the days leading up to the operation.
“Before the spans could be lifted most of the concrete top deck had to be taken up,” Mr Borger said.
“The [1986] bridge was a three-span bridge we had to remove in sections, so on Monday night Section One and Section Three were taken from their positions and they were 45 metres long and 10 metres wide and each weighed 70 tonnes.”
“On Tuesday night Section Two, which weighed 90 tonnes and was 55-metres long, was removed,” Nathan Borger said.
Diverted traffic slowed to a crawl over the 1893 heritage-listed original bridge, which remains as a pedestrian walkway, fascinated by the mammoth operation unfolding under high-powered lights.
The 55-metre cranes lifted slowly, picking up one section at a time and suspending it high above the bridge deck, gently slewing 180 degrees to place it on a multi-axle platform trailer on the new bridge, before transferring each section to nearby ground.
Roads and Maritime Services told The Chronicle the old bridge is now the property of Nelmac.
Nelmac’s Project Manager, Brian McIntosh, says the bridge is “definitely not headed for the scrap heap.”
“Currently, we’re in negotiations with an Upper Hunter horse stud and design consultants who’d like to salvage the steel truss spans.
“We’re also giving Upper Hunter Shire Council $80,000 worth of crushed concrete, which I understand they’re going to use as road base around the shire.
“Aberdeen’s demolished Fitzgerald Bridge will be put to good use and it will have another life,” Brian McIntosh said.