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BEST
PR
O
JECTS
68
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
DECEMBER
2015
Professional Services
C
Project information
• Company entering: WSP Group Africa
• Project start date: 1 October 2015
• Project end date: 30 August 2015
• Client: XTLS Investments 43
• Project team: WSP Group Africa,
Quad Africa
• Main contractor: Tri-Star &
Ferro Eleganza
• Architects: Rob Bray Concepts
• Project manager: WSP Group Africa
• Quantity surveyor: WSP Group Africa
• Consulting engineer: WSP Group Africa
• Project value: R16-million
A new pedestrian bridge is currently
under construction across Malib-
ongwe Drive (K29/R512) in Cosmo
City,
Randburg
with
completion
scheduled by mid-October 2015. The new
pedestrian bridge is supported by the
Gauteng Department of Roads and Trans-
port, the City of Johannesburg’s Planning
and Transportation Departments and the
Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA).
Cosmo Mall Pedestrian Bridge,
Cosmo City
The pedestrian bridge is intended to provide
for a safer and convenient pedestrian and
cycle crossing between the Cosmo City
integrated housing development on the
western side of the road and the new Cosmo
Mall Shopping Centre on the eastern side of
the road.
The Malibongwe Drive arterial is a high-
speed road of four lanes and acts as a barrier
to the flow of residents from Cosmo City to
the east, and to the shopping destination of
Cosmo Mall.
The bridge will also be accessible
to pedestrians from/to the Cosmo City
Regional Transport Facility and Market on
Erf 671 Cosmo City Proper. It is foreseen that
the new bridge will become a familiar land-
mark in the area as well as a tourism attrac-
tion that will be of benefit to the City and the
local communities.
The bridge concept has been developed
by prominent concept architect, Rob Bray.
The bridge design and the ‘forked’ supports
are derived from the iconic thorn tree that
is symbolic of the African experience, the
Acacia Tree.
The design statement reads as follows:
“Endemic to only Africa it speaks of a great
continent that is home to its many peoples.
Located at the tourist gateway and the
great new residential node of Cosmo City,
it symbolically links the people with their
roots. Designed to flow in the direction of
travel, the walkway and bridge deck curves
like a path through the bush, providing
pedestrians with an uninterrupted walkway
over the traffic below”.
The bridge is crossing over a prov-
incial road and road reserve, i.e. Malibo-
ngwe Drive (R512/K29) under the jurisdic-
tion of the Gauteng Department of Roads
and Transport.
It is considered as a significant corpo-
rate social investment by the developer of
the Cosmo Mall development that will
benefit Cosmo City residents by providing
a much safer route to the shopping centre
than crossing the busy Malibongwe Road
at-grade while also creating a new focal
point in the area.
The structure is a multi-span struc-
tural steel pedestrian bridge on concrete
columns with a composite concrete deck.
The expected design life is 100 years.
The bridge is made up of steel U-shaped
steelwork
girders
spanning
between
concrete columns. The girders are made
up from H-sections, tubular-sections and
angle-sections welded and bolted together.
The bridge is supported by reinforced
concrete pad foundations using an allow-
able ground bearing pressure of 300 kPa.