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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
FEBRUARY
2017
18
PROJECTS & CONTRACTS
In addition to the quickly deteriorating road surface and bridge,
a sinkhole had developed under the road’s surface threatening a
complete collapse of this section of the D528. Rocla’s SAR culverts
were selected for the rehabilitation of the bridge section.
Polokwane-based Batlagae Investments was awarded the
contract to commence the rehabilitation of the D528 road in April
2016 and the expected completion date is November 2016.
Thapelo Chuene, project manager at Batlagae Investments said,
“This 30 km section of the road became known as the ‘deathtrap’
because of the disintegrating bridge and road surface. Many
challenges faced us on this project such as the accommodation of
fibre optic lines, bad weather, the development of a ‘safe road’ for the
duration of the project and excavation of 30 000 m
3
of soil.
“The removal of old and collapsed pipes had to be conducted
with cutting torches due to a bridge collapse on a section of the
D528 road.
“Rocla’s SAR culverts were chosen due to their quality, longevity
and capacity. Ninety three units of 2 000 x 2 000 SAR culverts
(5-10 m fill height) were supplied for the flood damaged bridge
element of the project.”
“Because the Rocla’s SAR culverts were custom designed to our
requirements they were loaded onto tipper trucks and
then off-loaded individually, in order to ensure that no
damage was caused to each culvert,” said Chuene.
“When handling any concrete products,
it is important to remember that, as concrete is a
heavy and somewhat brittle material, bumps or
shock loads of any description are liable to damage
the product.
“When offloading custom designed products such
as our SAR culverts, whilst placing the product on the
ground, no portion of the culvert should be suspended
in the air. While off-loading individual culverts one-
by-one for the D528 project took some time, it was
essential to maintain the integrity of the culvert at all
times,” said Robert Hill, sales representative for Rocla
in Limpopo.
Hill continued “This particular project certainly
threw up some challenges from inclement weather
to traffic constantly trying to use the damaged
and collapsed sections of the road but
nothing that could not be overcome by the
contractors and our technical
support team.”
The SAR culvert is most suited to be
used in stormwater applications with
high loadings but can be applied in any
application where excessive fills must
be accommodated. Units consist of a
deck and two legs which are placed on a
concrete base. This base can be cast in-situ
or prefabricated.
Rocla is Southern Africa's leading
manufacturer of precast concrete products
for infrastructure, which in addition to
culverts includes pipes, manholes, poles
and various other related products.
All Rocla products are ISO 9001/2008
certified and have the applicable
SANS recognition. The company has
a sophisticated Quality Management
Systems which are continually monitored
and upgraded to ensure standards
are maintained.
CULVERTS
for road
D528
REHABILITATION
project in Limpopo
Re-occurring potholes from flooding in the Limpopo
Province over the past few years and damage from
the constant weight of heavy articulated trucks
made the rehabilitation of the D528 road in George’s
Valley near Tzaneen essential.