Iconic Bridgewater Bridge Piers completed

The final pier of the new Bridgewater Bridge was completed in October 2024, marking a major step forward for the $786 million link over the River Derwent.

The New Bridgewater Bridge project, one of Tasmania’s largest infrastructure undertakings, required BridgePro Engineering’s expertise to fabricate and construct the substructure supporting a new four-lane highway superstructure.

BridgePro’s scope included designing, fabricating, and constructing 42 concrete piers, with the tallest exceeding 17 meters and using over 123 cubic meters of concrete.

Key achievements include:

• Pier Formwork Design and Fabrication: Created certified pier forms with complex capital head shapes and variable geometries.
• Reinforcement Engineering: Designed and fabricated 32-tonne reinforcement cages with intricate layouts for transport and lifting stresses.
• Precast Pile Cap Shells: Produced 36 precast shells, each 4.3 meters tall and weighing 29 tonnes.
• Pile Cap Installation: Secured shells on piles with underwater grout.
• Pier Construction: Delivered pier columns efficiently at a pace of one per week through formwork erection, reinforcement installation, concrete placement, finishing, curing, and formwork removal.

The bridge will feature two lanes of traffic in each direction, a shared path for cyclists and pedestrians and sufficient clearance for boats on the river.