Record road spending equals jobs

2 July 2008

WHEN bridge engineer Peter Rotolone finished working on the Gateway Bridge more than two decades ago, he wondered whether there would ever be enough traffic to make the bridge viable.

With about 500,000 vehicles now using the bridge every week and its sister bridge under construction, it is hard to imagine there were questions over the need for the landmark engineering feat and vast opposition to tolls.

The 62-year-old has been plucked out of retirement by Queensland Motorways to manage construction of the bridge duplication and he is grateful for the opportunity to work on a project that will “be standing up there for years to come”.

“When you work on something, and you know it’s going to be there for 100 to 300 years, it grips you,” he said.

“Every day you can see something being built which, when it is finished, is a tangible thing and will be a public utility for a long, long time.

“The reason I came to this one was because I knew a fair bit about it and they were looking for someone to look after (the) main bridge during construction.

“It’s probably one of the biggest infrastructure projects around the country at the moment. Great projects like this don’t come around too often.

“The first feeling (after we finished the first bridge) was ‘who will use this bridge’ because I didn’t think there was enough traffic here but it became obvious it was going to be well and truly used..

“You feel sad when you finish a big project like that. I’m forever reminiscing.” The $1.88 billion Gateway

Upgrade Project is the largest road/ bridge project in Queensland’s history.Con-struction began in 2007 and is scheduled for completion by mid 2011. The bridge is expected to create more than 5000 jobs, with an estimated flow-on effect into the local economy of $450 million in wages and salaries.

Mr Rotolone said the existing Gateway Bridge over the Brisbane River had the longest span (a 260m centre arch) in the world for a concrete balance cantilever bridge when it was built in the early 1980s.

Mr Rotolone said the bridge design was chosen so it would not interfere with air traffic from Brisbane airport and would allow ships to pass beneath. He said there had been some shifts in concrete technologies and construction gear since the construction of the first bridge but few engineering changes.

“The bridge was a little bit ahead of its time in the sense it was the longest span in the world but a few things have changed,” he said.

“The concrete materials and technology have moved on a fair bit. We’re able to get high-strength concrete which is better quality.

“Also, we’re using a system of erection of the approach spans called match-casting. Rather than pour concrete in the air, they pre-cast them and have a glue joint between them which enables a faster construction rate.

“We’re achieving a year saving in construction time.”

Mr Rotolone said he began his 43-year career with the Main Roads department after completing an engineering university degree at the University of Queensland in 1971.

“My fondest memories are seeing a structure in place and being used, knowing you’ve worked on it from day one to the end,” he said.

“I feel pretty good every time I’m travelling on a highway I worked on.

“Doing the road from Mount Isa to Camooweal (and the Georgina River Bridge), it was one of the worst roads in the country and people would get stuck for weeks at a time waiting for floods to subside. To walk the line and see it to fruition made me proud.

“The Gateway is something you never forget because of the fact you have worked on a project which at the time was the largest in the world.

Mr Rotolone said infrastructure construction was a great industry.

“The thing about major infrastructure around Brisbane is that you are helping ease gridlock. There’s pride knowing you’re doing something to help the situation.”

Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt said his department was in the midst of a record $16.2 billion, five-year rolling program of works “designed to meet the needs of an evergrowing Queensland”.

“The current roads program is expected to generate more than 38,000 jobs in the five years to 2011–12,” he said.

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