The Umgeni Road Interchange upgrade project has won yet another award.

This time it was the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) Durban Branch Award for Technical Excellence bestowed on Hatch Goba for its involvement with the project.

This follows the project clinching a prestigious Fulton Award in the category Civil Engineering Structure over R100 million.

The SAICE Durban Branch Awards is a showcase for flagship projects in KwaZulu-Natal, with the winners entered into the SAICE National Awards later on in the year.

“This is a great achievement for the entire project team,” says John McCall, Hatch Goba, manager: roads & transportation, KwaZulu-Natal, comments. “I wish to extend our heartfelt appreciation to everyone involved in this complex and high-profile project.”

Implementing innovative techniques

The project involved the entire bridge deck built from one end of the structure, as opposed to the traditional segmental construction method whereby a bridge is built one span at a time.

“The application of this innovative technology had a substantial impact on the construction requirements, as well as minimising traffic disruption,” McCall notes.

The overall bridge works were 1 200 m long, with a surface area of 14 000 m2. The roadworks alone comprised 56 000 m2 of asphalt, while the bulk earthworks totalled 100 000 m3 of cut material and 200 000 m3 of fill material.

Another major challenge was posed by the fact that a large quantity of existing services not only had to be relocated, but had to be searched for and identified.

These ranged from electricity, Transnet and water reticulation to sewerage and telecommunications infrastructure. “This was an exceptionally demanding and challenging process,” McCall adds.

“Our experience, combined with our in-depth expertise in terms of project management, led to this major project being completed within budget.

It has not only brought world-class transportation infrastructure to the greater Durban area, but has set an international benchmark for similar projects in future,” McCall concludes.