Major construction of the long-awaited New Bridgewater Bridge is underway, with important pieces of the project’s temporary bridge arriving on site.
The $786 million project is jointly funded, with the Australian Government committing $628.8 million and the Tasmanian Government providing the remaining $157.2 million.
The new bridge will form the missing link in Tasmania’s National Highway, removing the bottlenecks currently experienced at each end of the bridge, particularly during peak travel times.
New, free-flowing interchanges will also be built at Bridgewater and Granton, improving travel between the Brooker, Lyell and Midland highways.
The first six of 12 barges have arrived at the project site and will be floated into place and settled on the mudflats adjacent to the causeway.
The remaining six barges are due to arrive in early May and will then be linked to a temporary steel-framed bridge built from the Bridgewater foreshore across the Derwent, from which the new bridge will be constructed.
This temporary bridge will provide equipment such as large cranes and construction vehicles access across the river to build the new bridge’s foundations and structure, without interrupting traffic on the existing Bridgewater Bridge.
The project will support 250 direct and 800 indirect jobs, with a target of 4 per cent of the workforce to come under the project’s Indigenous Participation Plan.
Construction contractor McConnell Dowell has placed an emphasis on skill development and pathway opportunities to introduce new people to the industry.
This includes through the recently completed pre-employment program that saw 50 job-seekers new to the construction industry fast-track their knowledge base and prepare for employment on the project.
A number of these participants have already secured work directly on the project, while others will be employed in the project’s purpose-built pre-cast concrete production facility in Bridgewater.
The Australian and Tasmanian governments are committed to having the new bridge open to traffic by the end of 2024, with the project to be completed in 2025.
