The final steel girder has been put in place for the Molonglo River Bridge. Photo: Infrastructure Canberra.
The story has been updated to clarify road closures had taken three weeks, not that the entire installation had been expected to take three weeks.
Molonglo River Bridge construction has reached another milestone with the final steel girder lifted into place this morning (26 June).
It marked the last of 12 girders (measuring 40 to 80 metres in length) to be lifted into place over the past eight weeks.
Work began in late April, with three weeks of road closures to install the northern-side girders. No closures were needed to install the southern-side girders.
The girders were lifted into place on the northern and southern sides of Coppins Crossing Road by a 143-metre-tall crane, the biggest the ACT has ever seen.
This means the next stage of construction can get underway. It will involve the placement of deck slabs onto the girders, installation of guard rails and anti-throw screen barriers.
The project includes the 200-metre-long bridge across the Molonglo Nature Reserve along with 1.7 kilometres of new arterial roads and two new intersections.
The infrastructure will provide access to the eventual Molonglo Town Centre from Whitlam and future northern Molonglo Valley suburbs.
The long-promised bridge has been made possible through joint funding from the ACT and Commonwealth governments.
When BMD Construction Pty Ltd was signed on to design and build the project in 2023, it had been on track to be completed by late 2025.
But rising costs, skills shortages and complex utilities requirements saw that timeline extended earlier this year.
Construction on the Molonglo River Bridge is now expected to be completed in late 2026.
Landscaping and planting work will occur in 2027.
