The Clyde River has added a barge to its fleet of vessels crewed by specialists investigating the riverbed’s geotechnical conditions as part of the Batemans Bay Bridge replacement project.
The 96m2 barge travelled by sea down the coastline of the south coast where a drill rig was loaded for investigation work to start. Taking around four weeks to complete its task of drilling small holes into the riverbed to collect material samples and pushing a steel cone into the riverbed to assess the firmness of the material the barge has been stationary at several different locations across the river where piles of the new bridge will be. John Holland Group has also put the bridge project into motion building temporary project offices on the site of the former bowling club in the northern section of Mackay Park as well as commencement of the demolition of the existing buildings. In their media release they advised that the site will be used for a community information centre, site offices, car parking, workshops and storage areas for materials including equipment, soil and gravel.
The Bridge Project Team have advised that they are committed to providing continued opportunities and forums for the public to remain heard as the project progresses and invite members of the community to the community information centre once it is finished early next year noting that the facility will be open during normal business hours and provide the community with direct access to the Project Team. The playgrounds in Korners Park are to remain in service until Monday, January 7th, and the two shelters and barbecues at Korner Park will be available until the end of January. On the opposite bank temporary toilets, including disabled access are to be built near the Clyde Street West boat ramp with the existing toilet block to be removed. Meanwhile that boat ramp will be taken out of service with a temporary ramp installed at Korners Park.
The proposed foreshore design that will look at all of the above, toilets, ramps, litter bins etc will be made available to the community in early 2019.
Batemans Bay Bridge: Photo by Josh Burkinshaw Images
