Bridge Building

08 October 2004

An important infrastructure project is currently underway in south-east Perth, involving the expansion of the Tonkin Highway in a joint venture between leading construction company John Holland and civil engineering company McMahon.

Planned as a bypass of Kelmscott, Armadale, Byford and Mundijong to reduce heavy traffic on roads in these areas, the project is set to dramatically improve access and amenity for the local community.

The project will be constructed in two stages, an initial stage of 18 kilometres from Mills Road West, Martin to Thomas Road in Byford and then a second stage of 14 kilometres to South Western Highway in Mundijong. In stage one of the project, the Tonkin Highway will be constructed as a four lane divided carriageway between Martin and Byford. Bridges will be constructed to carry the highway over the Canning River and the Southern River.

Local Kwinana based steel fabrication company, Western Construction is supplying 870 tonnes of beams for the two bridges.

Established in 1974, Western Construction specialises in the fabrication and erection of structural steel, tankage, plate work and piping, as well as the supply and commissioning of mechanical equipment, and the provision of maintenance services.

With clients predominantly from the mining, petrochemical and oil and gas industries, the Tonkin Highway expansion project is a little out of the ordinary for Western Construction. "It's not a typical job for us," says Western Construction's Ted Connelly. "The majority of our work is done for the mining and resource industry."

Nevertheless, the job has gone very well, he says. "The work has been fairly straightforward. We've fabricated sixteen beams all up, eight 45 metre beams for the Canning River, and eight 38 metre beams for the Southern River."

Western Construction's sound reputation, professionalism and competitive tender won them the initial contract, which was for the Canning River Bridge. The work for the Southern River bridge was negotiated as a variation to the original contract, which was awarded in September 2003. Work on the bridge beams was completed in July this year.

"The Tonkin Highway expansion is a high profile project in Western Australia, so it was important that it remained on schedule. By working closely with our distributors, we were able to be responsive to the requirements of Western Construction and ensure an effective supply chain for the supply of XLERPLATE® steel." says Elly Pilkadaris, Western Australia State Sales Manager at BlueScope Steel.

The beams were fabricated in Western Construction's well equipped 5,000 square metre fabrication workshop in Kwinana. The workshop's six 30 tonne capacity overhead cranes and state of the art fabrication equipment made fabricating the beams a breeze.

Each beam measures 1.8 metres high and 2 metres wide, fabricated from 350 grade XLERPLATE®, a brand of high quality hot rolled plate from BlueScope Steel. "We've always used Australian steel," says Ted.

The fabrication process was simple, Ted explains. "On receipt of the detail drawings from John Holland, we produced shop drawings for the beams. We then produced dfx files, which were then sent to BlueScope Steel's distributors, who cut the XLERPLATE® to size."

Smorgon Steel provided the XLERPLATE® for the Canning River Bridge, and OneSteel provided the XLERPLATE® for the Southern River Bridge.

"Once we received the processed XLERPLATE®, we assembled and welded the bridge beams, which then underwent non-destructive testing and were transported to the paint yard for surface treatment, and transport to site."

According to Ted, a reliable steel supplier is critical for Western Construction. "A good supplier is extremely important, particularly in the mining industry, everything needs to be done yesterday! Clients are more and more demanding and they want their plants up and running as soon as possible. It is vital that our suppliers provide continuity and quick turn around times."

"The Tonkin Highway job went very smoothly," he adds. "And the consistent quality and efficient delivery of the XLERPLATE® contributed to this."