Fusion of art and science

2 July 2008

TWO men, who worked together building a bridge 80 metres above the Panama

Canal, have joined forces to build an iconic bridge that will keep Brisbane residents and visitors guessing.

Paul Stathis, 35, and Joe Breslin, 65, have arrived at the Tank Street Bridge project through entirely different career paths but they share a fascination with bridge building extending back years.

Their mutual love of elevated transport links brought them together on another one of Baulderstone Hornibrook’s landmark bridge projects — the centennial Bridge over the Panama Canal.

They have reunited, after Mr Stathis plucked Mr Breslin out of retirement, to build a pedestrian and cycle bridge to link Brisbane’s justice precinct and Roma Street parklands to the city’s cultural south-side.

“It’s going to be unique, using a design which has never been implemented anywhere in the world,” Mr Stathis said.

“It’s a tensegrity (tensional integrity) structure where no two compression members touch. It’s going to look like it’s been put together like a ‘throw sticks’ set. People will be inspired to work out how it comes together. It’s a fusion of art and science.”

Mr Stathis said the bridge, which will employ about 90 people at peak construction, was set to open in late 2009.

“It is definitely a challenge to try and lead a bunch of people to do something that’s never been done before and trying to translate it back into conventional practice,” he said.

Mr Breslin began as a builder before switching to the civil side of construction.

“I always wondered how bridges got from A to B as a child. I’ve got to where I am through all my experience over the years,” he said.

Mr Breslin said he had worked on projects in Singapore and Hong Kong but was most proud of Hong Kong’s Tinkau Bridge project which had three towers 200m high, a cable-stay roadway and 480m spans.

He was also a foreman on Sydney’s Anzac Bridge and worked on elevated roads to Melbourne’s Bolte Bridge.

“I think the industry has been very good to me. I’m hoping to retire for my 67th birthday on this job.”

For Mr Stathis the Panama Canal bridge was his most rewarding achievement.

“It was an engineering feat to build a bridge 80m above the Panama Canal water level. We used a Cframe traveller which was the biggest one ever made in the world at the time. In comparison it weighed 410 tonne, which is equivalent to a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.”

Mr Stathis said he had wanted to be a bridge builder since his teenage years.

“It’s just persistence. My motto is ‘hard work conquers all’, it doesn’t matter how brainy you are.

“Whether it’s a pre-cast bridge on the Pacific Highway or the Panama Canal bridge, it’s worthwhile.”

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