Gateway Bridge - Brisbane, Australia

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Great Design is Timeless – But There is Always Room for Improvement

The original Gateway Bridge over the Brisbane River in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia was ahead of its time and a notable engineering accomplishment. The bridge owes its distinctive shape to air traffic requirements restricting its height to under elevation +80 meters while allowing a navigational clearance of 55 meters. The original Gateway Bridge has a total length of 1,627 meters and the main span held the world record (260m) for a pre-stressed concrete free cantilever bridge for more than 15 years after its completion in January of 1986.
The Queensland government and Queensland Motorways awarded the upgrade project to the Leighton Abigroup Joint Venture. In conjunction with Coffey Geotechnics Pty Ltd., the JV decided the original bored pile design under the main span was one area of opportunity for a more efficient design. This would not be a simple task with design capacities exceeding 54 MN; hence O-cell testing was a perfect solution for the projects preliminary testing requirements.

The preliminary testing program included one bored pile on each bank of the river adjacent to the existing bridge. Construction of the 1.5 meter diameter test piles was performed by Piling Contractors Pty. Both of the aggressively designed preliminary piles were load tested in excess of 100 MN while exhibiting less than 20 mm of displacement; exceeding most expectations for pile performance. Testing with the O-cell test method was proof positive that the original bridge foundation design could be improved – showing that even great designs can have room for improvement.

Location ……. Brisbane, Australia
Owner …….. Queensland Motorways
Geotechnical Engineer ….. Coffey Geotechnics Pty.
Foundation Contractor…… Piling Contractors Pty.
Shaft Diameter….1067mm (42”)
Shaft Length(s)….35.2m (115.5’) & 60.5m (198’)
O-cell Configuration….1 x 870mm (34”)

Max. Loadtest, Inc.
>100MN (11,000 tons)

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