Ageing infrastructure: restoration over replacement
Ageing infrastructure poses various risks to community safety, economic productivity, and overall quality of life. As structures reach the end of their usable lifespan, asset managers must find ways to restore assets beyond their original capacity.
Older infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, often fails to meet modern safety standards – this results in visible deterioration, increased risk of accidents, and a loss of public confidence.
As urban populations increase, the needs of communities can outgrow the capacity of old infrastructure, leading to congestion and inefficiencies in transportation and utility services.
Since 1989, Mainmark has been a proudly Australian-owned, award-winning innovator specialising in global ground improvement, re-levelling and void-filling solutions.
Mainmark delivers cost-effective, non-invasive solutions that reduce downtime and maintain operational continuity by utilising advanced technologies, including Teretek®, Terefil® and JOG Computer-Controlled Grouting.
Anastasia Arestia, Infrastructure & Mining Manager at Mainmark in VIC/TAS, explained that ageing infrastructure significantly impacts communities and the environment by compromising safety, economic growth, and social equity.
“Deteriorating roads, bridges and utilities can lead to an increase in number or severity of accidents, disruptions to essential services, and increased wear and damage to vehicles,” Mrs Arestia said.
“Ageing infrastructure negatively impacts communities and delaying addressing and rehabilitating these can result in increased costs, and often greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, delaying these actions can contribute to environmental issues such as urban flooding.”
Enhancing resilience: restoring infrastructure for tomorrow
Infrastructure owners looking to address the issues caused by ageing infrastructure often find that the costs of completely rebuilding structures can be prohibitively high.
By restoring ageing assets instead, managers can deliver faster positive outcomes for communities, preserve historical value, and reduce environmental impact while being more cost-effective.
“Restoration projects can often be completed more quickly, providing communities with improved services sooner and causing less disruption to residents and businesses,” Mrs Arestia said.
“This approach allows for modernisation by integrating new technologies into existing structures, ultimately fostering community stability and contributing to more resilient and sustainable neighbourhoods.”
Historic preservation in action
In 2019, a routine bridge inspection identified ground settlement issues beneath the bridge approach slabs and adjacent roadways on Federation Mall that lead to Canberra’s iconic Parliament House.
Federation Mall is a prestigious location that provides a ceremonial and symbolic link between Parliament House and Old Parliament House.
It was constructed in 1988 for Australia’s bicentennial and continues to host some of Canberra’s largest community activities.
The approach slabs on both sides of the ‘Land Axis Bridges’ – which span Canberra’s famous State Circle highway – had settled by up to 50mm, resulting in cracks appearing in the surface of the road leading up to the bridges, pedestrian walkway walls, relieving slabs and approach parapets.
This settlement also caused dishing and undesirable movement in the roadways on either side of the bridges.
Mainmark was contacted to devise and deliver an efficient and cost-effective remediation solution to re-level the approach slabs and parapet walls and improve the ground bearing capacity to ensure that access to Federation Mall was preserved for many years to come.
With over 35 years of experience restoring bridges and bridge approaches across Australia, Mainmark set to remediate the Land Axis Bridges with its Teretek engineered resin injection. This process delivers ground improvement and re-levelling, increases ground-bearing capacity, and fills voids while having no detrimental effects on the environment.
Applied in a process similar to keyhole surgery, Teretek was injected through very small tubes into the ground beneath the approach slabs at approximately 30 different injection points, filling voids, restoring ground support and returning the structure towards its correct position.
Teretek provides a more efficient and less disruptive solution than traditional methods by avoiding the need to excavate.
To minimise traffic disruption and access to Parliament House, works were scheduled on Parliamentary non-sitting days and carried out over five nights.
No heavy equipment or road upheaval was necessary, so the Land Axis Bridges could reopen to traffic each day. The entire project was completed within the specified timeline and budget.
Don’t rebuild, rehabilitate
The Federation Mall project highlights the benefits of rehabilitating and bringing critical infrastructure assets back to life rather than completely rebuilding them.
Australia’s ageing infrastructure poses complex challenges that impact its residents’ safety, economic productivity and overall quality of life. The financial costs of replacing this infrastructure and the invisible costs of societal disruption make rehabilitation a much more appealing option.
“By utilising our ground improvement and level correction solutions, we can efficiently restore the integrity of buildings and infrastructure, minimising downtime and inconvenience for occupants and surrounding communities,” said Mrs Arestia.
“These non-invasive methods not only expedite the repair process but also significantly reduce the environmental footprint typically associated with construction activities.”
Mainmark’s emphasis on restoration promotes resource efficiency and enhances community sustainability without the disruptive effects of large-scale construction projects.
To find out more, visit mainmark.com
