The steel girders for the Parkes Way light-rail bridge rolled into Canberra last week. Photo: ACT Government.
Canberra’s light-rail network has inched closer to crossing Parkes Way, with four enormous steel girders arriving in the capital under cover of darkness last week – the first major pieces of the city’s inaugural light-rail bridge.
In a social-media post, the ACT Government confirmed the first girder “arrived on the back of a super-sized truck” in the early hours, followed by three more over subsequent nights.
Each one is a monster: 53 metres long – the full length of the future bridge – and weighing up to 55 tonnes.
With all four now sitting near the construction zone, crews are preparing for the big lift. The government says a 750-tonne mobile crane will haul the girders into place from a specially built platform in the Parkes Way median this coming weekend.
The girders will be craned into place this weekend. Photo: ACT Government.
Sections of Parkes Way, Commonwealth Avenue and London Circuit East will be closed in both directions from 8 pm, Friday, 5 December, until 6 am, Monday, 8 December.
Parkes Way will be shut between the Parkes Way on/off ramps and Vernon Circle, while Commonwealth Avenue will be closed between Parkes Way and Vernon Circle.
London Circuit East will also close between Constitution Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, with bus diversions in place.
The government says the disruption is unavoidable, but scheduling works over weekends will “minimise traffic disruption”.
Once complete, the Parkes Way bridge will carry two fully loaded light rail vehicles at once – the equivalent weight of about 70 cars.
It will be the first of several bridges that will eventually push the network all the way to Woden, including the major crossing over Lake Burley Griffin in Stage 2B, followed by new structures over State Circle, Hopetoun Circuit and Yarralumla Creek.
Construction on Stage 2A – the 1.7-kilometre extension from Northbourne Avenue to Commonwealth Park – began in February and is expected to take two years to build, with an additional year of testing and commissioning before passengers board in 2028.
Stage 2B, from Commonwealth Park to Woden, is slated to start in 2028 and finish in 2033 – with the cost and some finer details of its route still to be finalised.
The last time enormous girders came to Canberra was only a few months ago for the Molonglo River Bridge. Photo: ACT Government.
The last time girders of this scale rolled into town was during the construction of the massive Molonglo River Bridge over Coppins Crossing, now nearing completion.
That project, jointly funded by the ACT and Federal governments at $226.2 million, required 12 girders ranging in length from 40 to 80 metres.
Each had to be trucked down from Newcastle individually and lifted into place by a 1600-tonne crane – the tallest ever deployed in the ACT at 143 metres high.
Coppins Crossing frequently closes due to heavy rains, forcing huge detours onto Cotter Road. But the new bridge, set to be the longest steel bridge in Australia and the tallest road bridge in Canberra, is designed to stay above a once-in-100-year flood and create a far more reliable connection between Molonglo Valley, Belconnen and the rest of the ACT.
The government says it will continue to notify the community ahead of any future closures or construction impacts caused by light rail.
For further information on road closures and delays, visit Light Rail to Woden.
