Hampden Bridge (Wagga Wagga)
Hampden Bridge is a wooden Allan Truss bridge over the Murrumbidgee River in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales which opened to traffic on 11 November 1895 and was closed in October 1995 when the Wiradjuri Bridge opened. The bridge is 100.5 metres (330 ft) long with each of the 3 truss spans 33.5 metres (110 ft) long. Hampden Bridge was the first large overhead-braced truss bridge designed by Percy Allan. The bridge was originally designed to be a steel-built bridge; however, the tenders were too expensive so timber was used as an alternative.[1] Hampden Bridge replaced the Wagga Wagga Company Bridge, a toll bridge over the Murrumbidgee River that was constructed in 1862.
The Roads and Traffic Authority handed over the Hampden Bridge to the Wagga Wagga City Council after the bridge was closed to traffic in October 1995. However, the local historic landmark stayed open to pedestrians as a route between the suburb of North Wagga and the City of Wagga Wagga.[1]
Issues and news
- 16 August 2006 - the Hampden Bridge was closed to pedestrians indefinitely after the Wagga Wagga City Council found that the bridge deck had dropped 50 centimetres (20 in) after one of the trusses failed. A safety report by the Roads and Traffic Authority stated that the bridge could fall down any day due to it being in a state of disrepair. Wagga Wagga City Council looked into ways to prop up the failed section with other options of possibly demolishing the bridge.[2][3][4]
- 25 August 2006 - Wagga Wagga City Council reported that it could cost $30,000 for emergency stabilisation with other costs such as $10,000 or more for a structural assessment and $25,000 to prepare for tenders for the repairs to make the Hampden Bridge safe.[5]
- 28 August 2006 - At the Wagga Wagga City Council's monthly meeting the Council decided on emergency stabilisation work, structural soundness assessment, heritage assessment and costs into demolition of the bridge. Cr Peter Dale argued that demolition was the only option since that keeping the Hampden Bridge would cost the Wagga Wagga City Council hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain after an engineer looked at the bridge and estimated that the cost for repairs would be $100,000.[6]
- 25 September 2006 - Wagga Wagga City Council approved on whether or not they should use $30,000 from cash reserves for repairs or for demolition of the bridge. A report by Harry Trueman from the Institute of Engineers Australia stated that the Hampden Bridge was one of the biggest and most important timber bridges in the state since it was originally built to take produce from the Riverina to Sydney; however he was not confident that the Hampden Bridge could be saved due to the amount of money need to restoring it to a good condition, which would cost the Council millions of dollars and involve high ongoing maintenance costs.[7]
- 27 February 2008 - Wagga Wagga City Council approved $300,000 to make the bridge structurally safe. In November 2007 councillors attended a number of workshops on estimated costs of rehabilitation and demolition. The cost of rehabilitation was estimated to be $1.5 million and demolition $1.6 million.[8]
- August 2008 - a 39-metre (128 ft) metal truss was placed on the failed section of the Hampden Bridge, to raise the deck for repair, which used railway tracks to put it in place.[9]
References