Giant 700t crane rolls in for major Kemp Street bridge lifts

A 700-TONNE crane has rolled into Junee as Inland Rail crews prepare to install the massive concrete girders that will support the deck of the new Kemp Street bridge.

The giant crane arrived at the construction site about 1.30pm on Thursday, August 20, and is now being assembled on Edgar Street in preparation for the first girder lifts.

It is the largest crane used at the Junee site to date, dwarfing the heavy-lifting machinery previously brought in for the project.

© The Junee Bulletin

© The Junee Bulletin

Crews will use the crane to lift and install 16 precast concrete girders weighing between 44 and 48 tonnes each.

The operation will be among the biggest and most complex undertaken at the site since the original Kemp Street bridge was demolished last September.

Truckloads of counterweights and other equipment are also being delivered to the site before lifting can begin, with the crane requiring extensive assembly due to its sheer size and capacity.

© The Junee Bulletin

Once the first girders have been lifted into place on the eastern side of the bridge, the crane will be dismantled and reassembled on the opposite side to complete the lifts.

The operation is expected to run through until Thursday, August 27, with crews permitted to work outside normal construction hours due to the scale and complexity of the lifts.

Work is scheduled to continue as late as 10pm on most days, although Sunday’s activities will be restricted to between 8am and 8pm.

Once the bridge girders have been installed, the crane will return to Edgar Street to lift the next two steel sections of the new pedestrian footbridge into position.

The latest heavy-lifting operation comes just over two weeks after the first pieces of the pedestrian footbridge were installed.

© The Junee Bulletin

Two large curved steel sections forming part of the footbridge’s northern access ramp were delivered on semi-trailers and lifted into place behind the Junee Skate Park on August 4.

Those components were installed using a 450-tonne crane, making the machine now assembling on Edgar Street significantly larger than the one used during the earlier operation.

WATCH: First footbridge pieces lifted into place

The pedestrian structure will eventually run alongside the replacement road bridge, providing a dedicated crossing over the busy rail corridor.

© The Junee Bulletin

Installation of the 16 concrete sections will provide the clearest indication yet of the bridge’s final scale and represents a major step towards connecting its eastern and western approaches.

In preparation for the girder lifts, Inland Rail said the existing steel columns, known as soldier piles, would first need to be removed.

The columns were scheduled to be lifted out by a 100-tonne mobile crane and transported from the site on flatbed trucks earlier this week.

© The Junee Bulletin

Inland Rail has advised that a combination of heavy vehicles with jinker trailers, lighting towers, elevated work platforms and other machinery will be operating throughout the upcoming works.

Traffic control will be in place during the operation, with temporary fencing and flagging installed around exclusion zones.

Inland Rail has warned the heavy-lifting schedule remains subject to weather and other operational factors and may be changed at short notice.

The girder installation comes ahead of another 96-hour rail possession scheduled from September 12 to 15, when crews will continue bridge construction and undertake track realignment works across the Junee rail precinct.

Inland Rail says the new Kemp Street bridge is scheduled for completion by August 2027.

For further information, visit the Inland Rail website.