The Bowen Bridge is a segmental

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

crossing the River Derwent in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The bridge serves as a vital transportation link in the state capital of

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, facilitating the movement of vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists between the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

s of Clarence on the eastern shore and Glenorchy on the western shore. The Bowen Bridge links the East Derwent Highway with the

Brooker Highway The Brooker Highway is a highway in the Australian state of Tasmania. As one of Hobart's three major radials, the highway connects traffic from the Hobart central business district, city centre with the northern suburbs and is the major road con ...

(as Goodwood Road) at Glenorchy, approximately from the

Hobart city centre The Hobart City Centre (referred to as the Hobart CBD) is a suburb surrounded by metropolitan Hobart, which comprises the original settlement, the central business district, and other built-up areas. It is the oldest part of Hobart and include ...

. The Bowen Bridge is composed of eight river spans, each measuring . The end spans are and long. It maintains a consistent deck width of , accommodating a divided highway with two lanes each, along with two separated shared-use walkways. The Bowen Bridge takes its name from

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colonist John Bowen, who founded the first European settlement in Tasmania (then

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

) at

Risdon Cove Risdon Cove is a cove located on the east bank of the Derwent River, Tasmania, Derwent River, approximately north of Hobart, Tasmania. It was the site of the first United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British settlement in Van Diemen's La ...

on the eastern shore. Bowen subsequently moved the colony to the western side of the River Derwent, where the Hobart city centre is located today.

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth List of ...

revealed the bridge's name at a public ceremony at Dowsings Point on 10 October 1980.

History

Situated approximately halfway between the

Tasman Bridge The Tasman Bridge is a prestressed concrete girder bridge connecting the Tasman Highway over the River Derwent (Tasmania), River Derwent in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. When it opened on 29 March 1965, the Tasman was the longest prestressed con ...

and the Bridgewater Bridge, the Bowen Bridge was constructed to mitigate any future failure of the city's bridges following the

Tasman Bridge disaster The Tasman Bridge disaster occurred on the evening of 5 January 1975, in Hobart, the capital city of Australia's island state of Tasmania, when the bulk carrier , travelling up the River Derwent (Tasmania), River Derwent, collided with seve ...

. The

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and Federal Governments established the Joint Committee in November 1975 to oversee the design and construction of a bridge across the River Derwent near Dowsings Point. Maunsell and Partners served as

consulting engineer Engineering consulting is the practice of performing engineering as a consulting engineer. It assists individuals, public and private companies with process management, idea organization, product design, fabrication, maintenance, repair and operati ...

s and

Leighton Leighton may refer to: Places In Australia: * Leighton, Western Australia, a beachside locality In the United Kingdom: * Leighton, Cambridgeshire * Leighton, Cheshire * Leighton, North Yorkshire ** Leighton Reservoir * Leighton, Shropshire *Lei ...

-Candac, awarded the contract in 1980, completed the construction.Second Hobart bridge contract awarded '' Freight & Container Transportation'' July 1980 page 5

Design

The foundational design primarily aimed to ensure the river piers could withstand impacts from

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s traveling at operating speeds () assisted by the current (). All piers were specifically engineered to endure an impact force of at an angle of up to 45 degrees from the

pile cap A pile cap is a thick concrete mat that rests on concrete or timber piles that have been driven into soft or unstable ground to provide a suitable stable foundation. It usually forms part of the deep foundation of a building, typically a multi-sto ...

centre line, while other directions could sustain a force of . This approach accounted for potential impact from future river barges of up to of

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

. The underlying philosophy involved creating substantial gravity-based foundation structures capable of generating adequate force to absorb the energy and deform the bows of barges during impact. The design strategy also allowed for future reinforcement to withstand a force of , accommodating potential deadweight tonnage impact of . To meet these ship impact criteria, the river pier foundations were constructed as massive

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

caisson structures, measuring in outer diameter with wall thickness, built from the ground up. The deepest among the nine piers extended to below

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. Noteworthy statistics include a total concrete mass of , a reinforcing steel mass of , and a cumulative length of steel tendons reaching .

Construction

Leighton Contractors implemented a highly efficient balanced

construction technique, notably avoiding the use of

falsework Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. For arches, this is specifically called centering. Falsework includes temporary ...

within the river – a pioneering approach in Australia at that time. To streamline the construction process, segments were match cast, enabling the deck to be constructed concurrently with the establishment of substantial foundations. This segmental design facilitated swift assembly of the superstructure. The superstructure itself consists of two individual

box girder A box girder or tubular girder (or box beam) is a girder that forms an enclosed tube with multiple walls, as opposed to an i-beam, - or H-beam. Originally constructed of wrought iron joined by riveting, they are now made of rolled steel, rolled ...

s that were erected side by side and connected by an in situ longitudinal joint. The segments were cast in the sequence of their installation. Subsequent segments were directly cast against preceding adjacent segments, utilising a debonding agent on the adjacent surface to allow for separation. The bridge cost 49 million to construct and was officially opened on 23 February 1984 by Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

Gallery

Bowen Bridge.jpg, The bridge from the Derwent River (facing south).

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

History
{{Authority control Bridges completed in 1984 Bridges in Hobart Cantilever bridges in Australia Concrete bridges in Australia River Derwent (Tasmania) Road bridges in Tasmania 1984 establishments in Australia