RMS Bridges – Regional NSW

Adding Life to Concrete – How MARKHAM protected exposed rural concrete bridge decks

OBJECTIVE

Under the auspices of RMS in NSW, these four RMS bridges are located through the state’s central west and New England areas. This project was carried out in 2015. At that point, the bridges were each about 30 years old. They are each of similar construction, with concrete pillars and decks supported by steel girder superstructure.

The works intended to preserve the ageing exposed concrete decks, given the challenge of accessing them for regular maintenance, and the loaded traffic that uses them.

A painted coating was deemed inadequate due to the likely traffic wear.

One specific challenge was the need to minimize downtime, as the bridges are typically the sole vehicle route for the given remote area.

SOLUTION

AQURON 2000 spray-applied hydrogel treatment was used in all cases, for waterproofing and durability enhancement.

One specific challenge was the need to minimise downtime, as the bridges are typically the sole vehicle route for the given remote area. The impact on downtime was minimised in three ways. Firstly, the treatment only requires 1-2 hours downtime in itself, before the concrete is trafficable. Secondly, one lane was treated at a time. Thirdly, nightworks were utilised in some instances, to accelerate the overall process.

RESULTS

These RMS bridges are still fully functional at the time of updating this case study (2024).