A Walk Around a Few Blocks in Melbourne CBD to See the W-Melbourne Building
Firstly from Southbank then across the Evan Walker footbridge, underneath the train lines to the end of Elizabeth Street.
Turn east along Flinders Street taking in the grand Flinders Street Station, St Paul's Cathedral, up Swanston St then west along Collins Street. The new W-Melbourne building is on the corner of Collins and Market Street and is truly different and impressive with its two towers and an elevated cross over connection.
Reflections about the King Street Bridge
Back towards the river I went to the Kings Street Bridge. This low level road bridge was built in the 1960s and used a "new" high strength steel for its main girders. Unfortunately the welding required pre-heating and proper handling. These extra precautions were not followed and on a cold winter morning a heavy truck going northwards caused the girders to fail by brittle fracture. The bridge was propped up with timber posts and a lengthy repair job followed. As did a Royal Commission.
As an engineering student I worked for a bit on the repairs in the mid 1960s. Concrete blocks were cast between girders at the ends and from these blocks special high strength steel tendons were placed underneath and stressed. The effect was to counteract the downward loads and reduce the tensile stresses in the original girders.
Photos of some sculptures on the Southbank before meeting up with my ride home. All images by Peter Kneen
