this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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22
Why wooden bridges still have a place despite upkeep challenges (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 1 year ago by Tau@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone
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From quaint beginnings as log crossings to sophisticated structures of modern transportation, timber bridges are interwoven in Australia's history.

And despite a number of government-owned timber bridges in Australia being in disrepair in the past decade, an engineer says there is still a place for clever uses of wood.

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[–] Tau@aussie.zone 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It was always a shame watching the old timber bridges get replaced with the comparatively soulless concrete designs, nice to see that some are escaping that treatment.

[–] TheCriticalMember@aussie.zone 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Trouble is, wood has a much shorter design life and needs a lot more maintenance than concrete. Concrete bridges have a design life of 100 years, while timber will likely need significant refurbishment within 20-40, not to mention constant inspections every year with testboring at 2 year intervals (per AustRoads) and they're often more expensive to build nowadays with the price of timber.

So yeah, they can look cool, but there are far better things to spend our money on.