Exmouth is one of the State’s premier tourism destinations and is also subject to cyclonic wind conditions – requiring the footbridge to be designed to both a very high aesthetic standard, and to withstand extreme wind. The BG&E design delivered an outstanding bridge that meets both of these criteria.

As part of a marina development to complement the boat harbour at Exmouth near the North-West Cape of Western Australia, Landcorp commissioned the design of a 92 metre long landmark footbridge over the main canal. The footbridge provides a pedestrian link between the resort and harbour facilities and surrounding residential and commercial developments nearby the main marina precinct.

BG&E provided the structural design concept for the footbridge, with input from Jones Coulter Young Architecture, as well as provided a practical solution for fabrication and erection.

In addressing the design issues for the high steel arch, the design was proportioned with curved surfaces, slender arch members and shallow deck. Slenderness was achieved by triangulating the hangers. BG&E worked with the architectural team to determine the best aesthetic arrangement of arch height, deck height above water and cable inclination. The resulting cable arrangement is both highly aesthetic and also contributes to the stiffness of the structure.

Our team also provided construction support and management for the stability of the arch during temporary staging of the erection, and during lifting and transferring of the precast deck units into position.

The scope of works included construction support and planning – such as assessing the positioning of the crane outriggers close to abutment walls for the major lifts of the steel arch, construction staging and details for installation of the precast deck units and adjustment of the inclined cable lengths at rigging screws to allow adjustment of the deck to the design profile.