Pumicestone Road Overpass 

Demolition of Nev Nichols Bridge

Abyss Demolition completed mechanical demolition of the Pumicestone Rd Bridge, Caboolture in 2015. The bridge was demolished over several night shifts so that the Bruce Highway remained open to traffic during the day. The project was captured on timelapse cameras below.

The existing Pumicestone Road Bridge over the Bruce Highway was constructed in 1971. At the time it was among the largest bridges of its kind in South East Queensland. In 1999, the bridge was named in honour of Nev Nichols, a former Transport and Main Roads engineer and the bridge foreman who supervised its construction. Pre-works were undertaken to secure the headstock so the girders would not move if impacted by oncoming traffic during the day. The bridge was constructed of prestressed girders on piles and cast in concrete. It traversed the Bruce Highway which is the busiest highway in Australia. The bridge was mechanically demolished using excavators with hammers. Each night the highway traffic was diverted, the barriers were moved, the road protected and the bridge was demolished one girder at a time. At the end of each shift the bridge face was oxy cut to remove any reinforcing, the road was cleaned up and the highway was re-opened to traffic each day. Abyss completed the demolition works ahead of schedule.