Case Studies

In August 2017 Universal Cranes was engaged by JF Hull to provide planning, scheduling, crane hire and project management for the installation of four trusses for the Veloway 1 (V1) Project overpass at the Cornwall Street and Marquis Street offramp.

The V1 provides a complete 17km track for cyclists from Brisbane City to the Eight Mile Plains off-ramp. At Universal Cranes, we are always excited by the projects we are involved with, but even more so when we can see a long-term positive impact for the environment and our community.

Using a 350T Liebherr LTM1350 and a 450T Grove GMK 7450, Universal Cranes installed the bridge overpass over 6 nights, which was made up of 162T of trusses. While the lift was relatively straightforward from a technical point of view, it was highly challenging regarding the complex interfaces with traffic and infrastructure services and thus required extensive and detailed planning. The cranes were mobilised on a high traffic highway off ramp requiring 17 semi-trailers, with a difficult site layout and time and movement restrictions. This presented unique challenges in mobilisation and demobilisation and meant once mobilised the lifts had to be executed with precision under a tight timeframe within the planned road closures. With the crane footprint directly on the offramp, complete road closures were essential. This put significant pressure on the lift schedule, with only a 7-hour closure window each night to execute the lifts.

Assessing the infrastructure services present on the site revealed a very limited potential crane foot print, with the trusses transported onto the busway and the crane(s) located on the Southbound off ramp on Cornwall Street and Marquis Street. The trusses were lifted off the transport and into position adjacent to the Busway. To avoid interaction with the services, we identified machines within our fleet with the required radius and capacity that would ensure existing services were avoided while still fitting within the site footprint restrictions. Working on a public road also meant keeping below the maximum bearing capacity load, to ensure no damage to underground services. We identified the 350T Liebherr LTM1350 and a 450T Grove GMK 7450 as the best fit for the lifts, with the appropriate capacity/radius options for the site, with fabricated steel mats and hardwood timber mats to keep the outrigger loads to the allowable bearing capacity and ensure no damage from the outrigger loads.

We designed the site layout with the Liebherr LMT1350 to also enable us to leave the required counterweight on site between shifts in a position where it could be easily reloaded onto the crane for subsequent lifts. This saved 1.5 hours in mobilisation time which is significant in the context of a 7 hour shift.

We worked closely with the transport company, providing a detailed time schedule outlining the required delivery times. We worked with them to identify the required load configuration to facilitate installation by the crane when the trusses arrived on site. Furthermore, we pre-rigged each truss during the load out from the Brendale yard. We also ensured contingency planning was done, including planning for worst case scenarios, so that we were prepared to respond within the closure time and still meet the tight time schedule. For example, we allowed time in the schedule for the rotation of the trusses under hook in case there was an error in the truss orientation when loaded, and we planned the site layout to allow room for a full rotation. This ultimately did occur for Truss 4. We were able to call upon our contingency plan to adapt the lift strategy, to rotate the truss using the hook while working closely with police on the required road closures. Through innovation in our site layout, thorough scenario-based and backup planning, and adaptability on site we were able to install the trusses within the required timeframe, without any major traffic disruptions.

The four trusses were lifted into place incident free, within budget and on schedule enabling JF Hull to meet TMR and stakeholder requirements.

Key equipment utilised:

• 350T Liebherr LTM1350
• 450T Grove GMK 7450
• 2 x 25T Frannas
• Fabricated steel and hardwood timber mats