SWINGING ALONG: An 18 tonne concrete beam is craned into place on Broke’s Herbert Street Bridge this week. Thirty six of the 20 metre long beams were set to be installed this week.
BROKE’S new $1.9million Herbert Street Bridge took a 650 tonne step towards completion this week.
Three cranes were used to swing into place 36 massive precast, prestressed concrete deck beams.
Each was about 20 metres long and weighed about 18 tonnes.
Singleton Council’s acting assets director Alan Fletcher said installing the beams put the project well on track to be completed and opened for traffic in four months.
The work so far included boring and pouring reinforced concrete columns into the Wollombi Brook bed, up to 13 metres deep.
These piers have been connected to reinforced concrete headstocks and creek-bed beams.
Nine deck beams will cross four spans between headstocks and eventually allow the deck to be constructed.
The council initially took out a loan to enable the bridge to be built and then last month the state government announced a $1.9million grant to cover the costs.
The grant was part of $5.9million in the state budget for Singleton shire infrastructure projects.
When hearing of the allocation, Singleton mayor Sue Moore said: “This funding means we no longer need that loan, thereby saving council interest payments and freeing up money for council to tackle other projects.”