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| All 2000 segments have now been manufactured and shipped to the northern side of the bridge waiting for installation and two new lane barrier moving vehicles to arrive in New Zealand. |
The quick-change moveable barrier (QMB) currently in use on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, was installed in 1990 and was the first permanent lane barrier system on a major bridge anywhere in the world. Anyone who lived in Auckland in the late 80's will remember major traffic jams on the bridge due to head-on collisions. These hold ups are a thing of the past since the barrier was installed.
Eighteen years later the New Zealand Transport Agency were looking to upgrade the QMB. The current barrier has assisted traffic flow by changing lanes more than 13,000 times in its lifetime.
In 2007 CSP Pacific signed an exclusive manufacturing and distribution agreement with The Armorflex Group in New Zealand. So when Barrier Systems Inc (BSI), Armorflex's agent in the USA, was included in the tender for a new QMB system for the Auckland Harbour bridge, they did this knowing they could work with CSP Pacific to manufacture the 2000 individual concrete barrier segments here in New Zealand.
"BSI knew we had a concrete arm to our business with the Humes Group," said Zalman Paris, Business Unit Manager, CSP Pacific. "We contacted Humes Hamilton Civil (previously known as Stresscrete) and were able to come up with a quality system and competitive price that made it more cost effective to manufacture the barrier here in New Zealand rather than importing it from the USA."
"BSI supplied 50 moulds, the reinforcing and cast in components for the manufacture of the barrier," said Brian Robinson, Pre-cast Development Manager, Humes Pipeline Systems. "They also supported us with an initial induction and quality control checks throughout the manufacture. Eight men were able to produce 50 barriers per day with Firth supplying the 520m3 of self compacting concrete to complete the job."
All 2000 segments have now been manufactured and shipped to the northern side of the bridge waiting for installation and two new lane barrier moving vehicles to arrive in New Zealand.
"This project was a good example of how well Fletcher Building companies can support and work together on projects," added Zalman.
Motorists will get to see the QMB and new barrier machines in the New Year, with installation expected by early February.
With the new system twice as fast as the old, traffic flow is certain to improve.
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