We're getting on with the job with delivering the Structures Rehabilitation Package, with motorists now able to use the new Wallan Road bridge north of Whittlesea.
The work was carried out day and night throughout July and August to strengthen the small watercourse bridge to service the community for years to come.
Construction crews worked approximately 2,400 hours during a 2 week construction blitz to demolish the existing bridge, just south of Wildwood Road, installing 14 new precast culverts and safety barriers while also improving drainage and laying new asphalt.
The precast culverts, each weighing up to 6 tonnes and measuring up to 2.4 metres long – manufactured in Wangaratta - have been moved into place by a crane weighing up to 120-tonnes.
More than 6,000 drivers rely on Wallan Road each day with the existing 2 lane bridge reaching the end of it’s natural lifespan, requiring renewal to ensure it continues to operate in a safe and optimal condition.
The small Wallan Road watercourse bridge, completed in 1955, is a critical link for traffic travelling between Wallan, Upper Plenty and the growing surrounds of Whittlesea.
It’s the first bridge to be strengthened as part of the Structures Rehabilitation Package, with crews this month also completing around-the-clock works to upgrade the busy Barry Road bridge, over the Craigieburn rail line in Broadmeadows.
Bridge upgrade works are being delivered throughout metropolitan Melbourne to ensure all road users including heavy vehicles are being catered for across our ever-changing transport network.
Nine other bridges and culvert structures around metropolitan Melbourne make up the Structures Rehabilitation Package funding for works at Yan Yean, Woodstock, Mernda, Dandenong South and Tooradin.
The Structures Rehabilitation Package is scheduled to be completed by 2023.