Projects with a value between R50 million and R250 milion
WINNER COMMENDATION
Naidu Consulting for the Mabhobhane River Bridge over the Tugela River PROJECT TEAM
Client: KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport Consulting engineer: Naidu Consulting Contractor: Umso Construction Notable advances in construction and design techniques made through the composite modular bridge deck solution allowed for the 350 t of structural steel deck trusses to be prefabricated some 290 km away, off-site, concurrently with the construction of the substructure. Once placed, the steel trusses were used to temporarily support the construction of the concrete deck slab, completing the composite deck section. This facilitated the construction of the deck without the constraint of falsework and formwork supported from the riverbed, which is notorious for flash-flooding.
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The elegant lines of the structural steel trusses and slenderness of the concrete deck slab and piers also presented a uniquely aesthetically appealing solution with a limited
embers of the Bangindoda community, situated
construction footprint. This resulted in lower environmental
on the Eshowe side of the Tugela, which
impacts during construction and a reduced carbon footprint for
includes more than 200 learners, faced the risk of
future sustainability.
drowning daily, when crossing KwaZulu-Natal’s
Throughout the project cycle, the local community was engaged
largest river by boat to access basic services such as schools,
and relationships strengthened, which enabled construction to
clinics, pension pay points and the post office, which are on the
proceed without any incident of community dissatisfaction.
Maphumulo side of the Tugela River. When the boat was out of
A total of 77 job opportunities were also directly created through
operation or the river was impassable, community members had to
employing members from the local community, as well as 28
travel approximately 28 km to the nearest town of Eshowe to access
youth below the age of 35 who were trained through a 10-month
health and social services, and learners were missing out on school.
National Youth Service learnership.
The client’s brief was to develop an economical, low-
Through a collaborative effort between the client, engineer and
environmental-impact engineering solution that would
contractor, the quality, time and project budget were effectively
accommodate the environmentally sensitive area and be able to
and efficiently managed. This ensured that the project was
accelerate the construction process, with no piers in the river.
completed in May 2018, within the allocated time and budget,
Through ingenuity and innovation, Naidu Consulting developed a
and without any major health and safety incidents – despite the
solution that comprised the construction of a 330 m long composite
challenges of working at heights up to 20 m above the ground.
structural steel truss and reinforced concrete slab deck bridge
The often-devastating effects of crossing the mighty Tugela
with spans of up to 40 m – the longest composite bridge to be
during flooding are therefore a nightmare of the past for the
constructed over the Tugela River.
learners and members of the adjacent communities.
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