The $342 million new Nowra bridge is almost within reach of crossing the Shoalhaven River.
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Sixteen of the 19 bridge deck segments have been cast and launched over the 360 metre Shoalhaven River span.
It is hoped segment 17 will be poured this week, weather permitting and the project remains on target to reach the northern side of the river in mid-year.
Each bridge deck segment, 19-20 metres, requires 360 cubic meters of concrete, equivalent to 60 concrete trucks.
After each segment is poured, the concrete is left to cure and then it is pushed across the river using hydraulic jacks.
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During the segment launch, PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene, same as Teflon) coated pads are used to help the bridge slide across each of the piers.
Across the project, piling for all 39 piles is complete.
Each pile requires around 45 cubic metres of concrete, equivalent to eight concrete trucks.
All eight pile caps have been installed, with work continuing on the placement of concrete within the last pile cap on the northern side of the river and eight of the nine bridge piers have been completed.
All 39 bridge planks on the new Bomaderry Creek Bridge have been installed and decks poured, with bridge widening work continuing.
Work is also well advanced on Illaroo Road with some of the sealing work now underway.
For all the statisticians out there - 98 per cent of major utility relocations are complete; and 100 per cent, or around 62 kilometres, of telecommunications cables have been relocated and cutover.
So far around 1900 people have been inducted on the project, and people on the project have worked over 716,000 hours combined.
So far around 1900 people have been inducted on the project, and people on the project have worked over 716,000 hours combined.
There is an an average of 120 workers on site each day at present, with the peak during 2021 of 200 workers on site per day.
The project is on track to be completed in mid-2024, weather permitting and when complete, the new bridge will carry four lanes of northbound traffic and the existing concrete bridge (opened in 1981) will be used for southbound vehicles.
The site will be shut down for the Easter long weekend, from 6pm Thursday, April 14 to 7am Tuesday, April 19. Night work will take place across the project in April.
The project will eventually provide a new four-lane bridge over the Shoalhaven River and upgrades to 1.7km of the Princes Highway, including upgraded intersections and additional lanes.
The new bridge is needed to replace the existing 1881 wrought iron whipple truss bridge which is in poor shape, has restrictions on over-mass and over-height vehicles, has high ongoing maintenance costs and can only carry highway traffic for a limited time.
The whipple truss bridge will be retired from road use and repurposed after the new Nowra Bridge opens.
Transport for NSW conducted community consultation from December 6, 2021 to February 4, 2022, inviting people to have their say on how the bridge could be repurposed.
More than 1200 submissions were received as part of the consultation, which included an online survey.
An announcement on the future use of the bridge is expected in the next couple of months.
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