Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- Restoration and repairs of the heritage-listed Sir William Goodman Bridge [Reconstructing the Holland Street Tramway Bridge]
- In
- 2014 South Australian Engineering Heritage Conference - Transactions
- Imprint
- Engineers Australia, South Australia Division, Adelaide, 2014, pp. 67-81
- Abstract
This paper examines the investigation, design and the restoration and repairs of a heritage listed tram bridge spanning the River Torrens in Adelaide. Known originally as the Hindmarsh-Thebarton Tramway Bridge and more commonly as the Holland Street Bridge by the local community, it is to be named The Sir William Goodman Bridge. The new name will be used throughout this paper.
The bridge was built in 1908 and is the second oldest reinforced concrete girder bridge in South Australia. It has had several owners, and each has not used programmed or responsive maintenance. Instead, load capacity has been reduced from trams to motor vehicles to finally a walking and cycling bridge.
During an audit of bridges in 2010 by the City of Charles Sturt, the extent of reinforcement corrosion and cracking of the concrete was considered so severe that the bridge was rated as Condition 5 and immediately closed.
It became evident during the repair work that the reinforcement corrosion was initiated by stray electrical currents from the trams which commenced running early last century and operated for over 60 years.
The bridge performed remarkably well for over 100 years and is a tribute to the original designer, and a very famous Australian, (Sir) John Monash, one of the early pioneers of reinforced concrete in Australia.
At the time that investigations started, the bridge was owned by two Councils, one being the City of West Torrens, and the other being the City of Charles Sturt. The two councils undertook exhaustive investigations and peer reviews until, in response to the level of risk in restoring the bridge, the City of West Torrens withdrew from the project and, by agreement formally handed the responsibility for the bridge to the City of Charles Sturt. Together with a monetary contribution from the City of West Torrens this allowed the City of Charles Sturt to secure funds and undertake the structural restoration and repairs and upgrade of the bridge.
The bridge is to be reopening as a walking and cycling bridge in September 2014 with the expectation of at least an additional 50-years of service.
Related Published resources
isPartOf
- 2014 South Australian Engineering Heritage Conference - Transactions edited by Venus, Richard (Adelaide: Engineers Australia, South Australia Division, 2014), 82 pp. Details