South Australian bridges cleared of major flaws by government audit but list of defects kept secret

AN audit of South Australia’s major road and rail bridges has finally been completed, clearing them all of the same flaws that caused the South Road overpass to crumble 12 months ago.

Supplied Editorial Damage to the South Rd tram bridge. Picture: Lew Toop

• Statewide bridge audit shrouded in secrecy
• Design failures led to overpass closure, report finds
• South Road overpass reopens

AN AUDIT of South Australia’s major road and rail bridges is finally finished, clearing them all of the same flaws that caused the South Rd overpass to crumble a year ago.

Despite identifying a catalogue of “minor” issues including cracks in bitumen and stressed concrete, the State Government is refusing to detail exactly how many of those smaller maintenance issues were found among the 850 bridges until a final report is released.

Up to 650 inspections of smaller infrastructure including culverts still need to be completed, but Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan said South Australia had a “stringent” inspection regime.

He said the bridge results should give South Australians “some peace of mind”.

Mr Mullighan said it was important a considerable bridge upgrade program continued, pointing to the Government’s $40 million bridge improvement budget for 2018.

“While we were not expecting to uncover any major faults, it was prudent to undertake the review following the experience with the shared use path at Glandore,” Mr Mullighan said.

“While no urgent rectification works were identified, some minor repairs and pruning will be scheduled over coming months.

“While the results of these inspections should give South Australians some piece of mind, it’s important we continue to invest in the maintenance and upgrade of the state’s bridges.” The audit was triggered by the collapse of the Black Forest overpass in January last year, when it buckled under strong winds.

South Rd tram overpass was crumbling a year ago.

Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan.

The overpass’s shared walking and cycle path is scheduled to reopen next month, after delays in repair works pushed back the date.

Overpass builder McConnell Dowell is footing the $1.84 million bill to fix the bridge’s wonky bearings.

Civil Contractors Federation chief executive Phil Sutherland said a rolling maintenance program, with a fixed budget set aside purely for inspecting and repairing bridges, was required to safeguard against failures like the South Rd overpass.

“We need a rolling program of investment and believe money should be isolated purely for maintenance, rather than spent on upgrading old bridges,” he said.

“Deferring investment is a false economy.

“Roads and bridges aren’t given the attention they require.

“The focus is always put on pouring money into flashy new bridges and roads.

“That’s why we have an enormous maintenance backlog across the state’s road system.”