The new Maidstone Street road bridge is taking shape, with construction crews recently installing retaining wall panels and aerolite fill to form the base of the bridge.
The concrete wall panels incorporate Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars, a more sustainable option than traditional steel reinforcement that does not rust and weighs about a third to a quarter of what steel weighs for comparable strengths.
The Aerolite fill material being used is approximately 40% lighter than the standard crushed rock material that typically is used for reinforced soil slope (RSS) fill. Approximately 12,500 tonnes of fill are being used for the north section of the road, and 7000 tonnes for the south.
The retaining wall will be made up of 401 panels, with the largest measuring 3748mm tall and weighing 3.06 tonnes.
Building a road bridge at Maidstone Street avoids impacts to important utilities and provides the best connections for this industrial area.
A temporary road has been built alongside the existing road north of the rail line and is helping to keep traffic moving while construction continues behind barriers.
The Maidstone Street level crossing will be gone for good in 2027, and will reduce congestion for the 14,400 vehicles that use the crossing each day, with the boom gates currently down for more than 20% of the morning peak.
