Work is under way on a new pedestrian bridge at Wodonga's Willow Park (near Hereford St).
The striking green bridge replaces an old, much smaller, overpass.
No longer will pedestrians and cyclists have to run/walk single file as the new bridge is a lot wider in size.
The bridge is 31.9m long and 2.6m wide (between the handrails).
There is also 4m of approach railing on each side of the bridge.
The old footbridge was the same length but 1.2m wide.
Concrete work, landscaping and the installation of passenger rails will be carried out in the coming weeks.
FUN FACTS:
- 8.3 tonnes of steel was used to construct the new pedestrian bridge;
- The bridge is made up of three sections each weighting 2.7tonne, 2.9tonne and 2.7tonne respectfully. The sections were bolted together on site after being placed in position;
- The deck of the bridge is FRP (Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic) Micro Mesh, with an opening size of 6mm;
- The colour of the new bridge is traffic green and a three-part paint system was used to paint it;
- The process involved sandblasting the structure before applying an undercoat, a middle coat and a top coat;
- The new bridge utilised the foundations and piers of the old bridge;
- Construction of the new bridge had minimal impact on the site and creek, through the use of a temporary bridge made out of container bases to gain construction access; and,
- About 60m of new concrete footpath will be constructed to match the new wider pedestrian bridge into the existing footpaths.