Riverside Park Footbridge

Riverside Park at Ipswich sits beside a watercourse that floods hard and floods often. This footbridge was designed to go completely under water and stay where it was put. The flood case runs to a 1 in 2000 year event with the bridge fully submerged. Park users cross a 2.5 metre wide deck with polished stainless steel handrails, on a single span between cast in situ concrete abutments.

The single span puts nothing in the water between the banks, leaving no pier for flood debris to build up against. Wagners Composite Fibre Technologies prefabricated the nine tonne truss with a 100 mm camber so it reads level under load, which meant the abutment bearings had to be set out exactly before the span went in. When the water drops, the composite members need a structural check and the bridge goes straight back into service.