Universal Cranes on Australian bridge build
17 February 2014
Australian crane rental company Universal Cranes built two bridges in Queensland and Brisbane, Australia.
To construct the first bridge, the 64 metre Bruce Highway Bridge near Calliope in central Queensland, Universal Cranes used a 450 tonne capacity Grove GMK7450 wheeled mobile telescopic crane.
The GMK7450 with Mega Wing Lift was used to install 22 precast concrete beams, measuring 33 m long and weighing 74 tonnes. The GMK7450 was fitted with a purpose-built lattice spreader. It took two weeks to complete the task.
The Bruce Highway Bridge is part of the AUS$ 150 million (US$ 135 million) Calliope Crossroads project. The main contractor for the project is Golding Contractors.
The second bridge project for Universal Cranes was the Robinson Road over-pass in central Brisbane. For this job Universal used a 400 tonne capacity Manitowoc model 16000 crawler and a 100 tonne capacity model 12000 crawler crane.
Tasks for the 16000 included installing 18 precast concrete beams measuring 34 m long and weighing 58 tonnes. The 16000 was fitted with a lightweight spacer beam system and the 12000 was used as a support crane to rig the larger one.
The Robinson Road overpass is part of an open level crossing replacement project, which is expected to cost around AUS$ 199 million ($180 million). The main contractors for the project are BMD Constructions and SMEC Australia.
