00:02It took decades of planning, years of construction and cost taxpayers $786 million.
00:10Now there are fears the Bridgewater Bridge may not be up to scratch.
00:15We certainly didn't get what we needed to hear to feel comfortable with the design.
00:21Derek Pennington was on an advisory team of engineers,
00:25tasked by the State Government with ensuring the project was built to contract.
00:29At a very early stage there, a lot of questions started coming up,
00:35particularly just about the pile and fundamentally the design that had been bought by the Government.
00:40Piles are posts drilled deep underground to form part of the foundation.
00:45So you can see the deepest piles are roughly here.
00:49Different types of piles are needed, depending on the ground conditions.
00:53The ground conditions were such that in certain parts of the crossing
00:57there was 40, 50 metres of ground you would call very soft
01:02and not able to provide much lateral support.
01:05It's the most complex ground that I've dealt with in 35 years career.
01:13The advisory team felt the company hired to build the Bridge, McConnell-Dowell,
01:18did not fully understand the ground conditions
01:20or how the piles would behave under different forces.
01:23It led to a standoff before the advisory team was let go by the Government in 2024.
01:29Dr Pennington believes to avoid delays.
01:32Dr Pennington says he doesn't believe there's any imminent danger regarding the bridge,
01:36but says structural issues in future might mean changes to speed limits or traffic flow.
01:41A large crack was found on the bridge just before it opened to the public in June last year.
01:47Right to information documents showed this was due to McConnell-Dowell
01:50underestimating loads.
01:52McConnell-Dowell didn't respond to questions by the ABC.
01:56The Department of State Growth didn't respond to specific questions,
01:59but a spokesperson said the final structural designs
02:02were certified as being compliant and fit for purpose.
02:05the public in the U.S.
02:08Mr Pennington's Worldwideвар
02:10Fedor Service report
02:10in the U.S. Marine
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