August 2009
Doha-based Halcrow engineer, David Phillips, has won the prestigious Sir Arnold Waters Medal for his paper on Fiji’s New Rewa River Bridge, published in The Structural Engineer magazine.
The paper chartered the impressive engineering feats that were employed by Halcrow to ensure that the longest bridge of its kind in the South Pacific opened to traffic both early and on budget by Fiji’s president in August 2006.
With an overall length of 425m, the dual two-lane carriageway bridge has seven internal spans of 49.5m and end spans of 39.25m.
Co-funded by the European Union and Fiji’s government, the bridge provides a vastly improved access point to Nauori and the island’s second airport. Previously rush-hour traffic struggle to cross the river on the old bridge – built in 1937 – some 160m downstream.
Halcrow’s project director and co-author Roger Buckby received the gong on David’s behalf at the Institution of Structural Engineers award ceremony, held at London’s Glaziers Hall on 03 June.