The biggest Tee-roff beams ever manufactured in Western Australia were installed as part of the METRONET Thornlie-Cockburn Link over the weekend.
The 50 metre beams were manufactured by local company, Georgiou Group, at its precast yard in Hazelmere, supporting local jobs.
Each beam consists of 14,000kg of reinforced steel, 120 stressing tendons and 73 cubic metres of concrete. They each weigh 197 tonnes and took 10 workers and two concrete pump trucks three days to manufacture.
Seven of the 10 beams were installed over the weekend, with the last three to be installed as the project progresses.
Tee-roff refers to a specially-designed beam developed in Victoria and first used in WA on the Northam Bypass project in 2001.
Tee-roff beams have become the preferred superstructure form for bridges with a range of 20‑45 metres as they enable the bridges the longer span, while using less material and reducing overall bridge load.
The beams have been installed on the new Ranford Road Bridge that is being built as part of the METRONET Thornlie-Cockburn Link.
The new bridge will be longer and higher to future-proof the rail corridor, and will have six general traffic lanes (three in each direction), bus lanes and a shared path on each side.
When the 17.5km Thornlie-Cockburn Link is complete, passengers using Ranford Road Station will be able to travel to Perth in about 29 minutes.
The McGowan Government has nine METRONET projects under construction, supporting local jobs and local businesses.
As stated by Transport Minister Rita Saffioti:
"METRONET is about supporting local WA jobs and our local manufacturing industry - these bridge beams are a great example.
"Not only are they the biggest Tee-roff bridge beams ever built in Western Australia, they were manufactured locally in Hazelmere.
"More than 1,680 local jobs will be supported through the Thornlie-Cockburn Link project over the next few years, while hundreds more will be created on other major projects in our southern suburbs that complement this project including the North Lake Road Bridge.
"Ranford Road Bridge will be significantly widened from two lanes each way to three lanes each way, plus adding a new bus lane and shared path on each side of the bridge.
"This new structure will help future-proof the road network ahead of a projected increase in demand for access to surrounding businesses, industrial areas and of course the future Thornlie-Cockburn Link train station at Ranford Road."
