Bridge 0352, Great Southern Highway

Values

• The place is an demonstration of the widespread use of timber as a structural material in the early twentieth century.
• The place is associated with the growth of regional infrastructure in the early twentieth century.

Physical Description

Bridge 352, Great Southern Highway is a double lane timber, steel and concrete road bridge spanning a minor waterway southeast of Katanning. The bridge is approximately 19.2 m long, 8.8 m wide and sits approximately 1.3 m above the gully bed.
The trestle bridge consists of a three spans constructed along a northwest-southeast axis. The bridge abutments consist of concrete and masonry rubble wing walls topped with a thin concrete render.
The original bridge deck consists of sawn timber planks that are still visible from beneath the bridge, set onto a series of round timber log stringers. Chamfered stringers then rest on short round timber log corbels, which in turn rest on dressed timber beam halfcaps bolted to round timber log piles. These piles are low enough to the river bed that no cross racing is required. The piers on the northeast face are unevenly spaced, indicating they are later additions to the structure. The end stringers rest on a dressed timber halfcaps set into each abutment. The outer edges of the span are protected by galvanised steel plates.

History

The economic policies of the Western Australian government during the 1920s can be described as broadly expansionist, in particular agricultural and pastoral expansion. However, these policies suffered severe contraction due to droughts and the effects of the Great Depression. At the end of the 1920s and into the early 1930s, the government responded in a number of ways, including stimulating the building market and investing in the expansion of industrial development such as the mining industry or capital works projects such as dams, sewerage, clearing and roads. The development of roads became particularly important as families migrated to Perth seeking work, resulting in rapid urbanisation.
The Main Roads Board was established in 1926, taking over some of the responsibilities of the Public Works Department. The board was re-established as the Main Roads Department in 1930. Main Roads became an active part of the state’s response to the economic crisis, providing short-term work for unemployed on a variety of infrastructure projects, even while struggling to cut costs and staff within their own structure. These works included road works and bridgeworks, with a focus on the southwest of the state.

Creation Date

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Last Update

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