Testing has been completed by Transport and Main Roads Department on the Barron River bridge near Kuranda and has confirmed it is safe with the current 50.5 tonne load and 60km/h speed limits in place.
The bridge is on the Cairns to Kuranda route and is used by thousands of vehicles daily.
“Crews have inspected about 1000 locations with an under-bridge inspection unit to see if the bridge was performing as expected under two lanes of traffic,” a TMR spokesperson told Big Rigs.
“The majority of the inspected locations did not show fatigue cracks in the steel elements, however, some small cracks were found at a few locations.”
These cracks have been repaired and will be rewelded from Tuesday April 26 until Saturday April 30, when a specialised crew is available to do these
works, weather permitting.
For the safety of the crew and road users, the bridge will be reduced to one lane during these works from 7am to 5pm, with intermittent full closures of up to 15 minutes.
Other maintenance works on the bridge, that require a lane closure on the
bridge between 9am and 3pm will be carried out on the following days: Monday
April 11, Thursday April 21 and Friday April 22, and Tuesday May 3.
Variable message signs (VMS) will be in place to inform motorists about he
changed traffic conditions. Changes in dates will be posted on the VMS.
TMR has started a planning study to investigate long-term solutions for the Barron River bridge.
This $2.1 million planning project will confirm the preferred alignment and scope of a replacement bridge over the Barron River, including a viable delivery strategy that also considers the ongoing management and rehabilitation of the existing bridge.