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Case Study #11: Central Motorway Junction - Auckland |
Commonly referred to as "Spaghetti Junction", the Central Motorway Junction (CMJ) in Auckland, New Zealand, is where the Southern, North Western and Northern Motorways converge, just west of the city centre. Built in the 1970s, the CMJ needed a much-needed upgrade. The area is a geometrically complex system of motorways and connecting ramps at multiple levels, carrying around 200,000 vehicles per day, all within a very restricted area. The new elevated viaduct structures required complex geometry to wind their way through the tight alignment. For the first time in New Zealand, viaduct structures were designed using precast prestressed "Super-T" girders, made continuous over the piers using in situ concrete diaphragms, the resulting viaducts being up to 260m long. SAM Integrated Bridge Design Software was used by the designers for live load analysis, stage analysis, and prestressed girder design. "SAM offered significant advantages for our engineers designing to New Zealand standards," said Parson Brinckerhoff's Design Manager, Rob Alexander. "In particular, the vehicle loadings are fully automated in the SAM Load Optimisation module, which was of significant benefit for the continuous structures which have complex load patterns." The software is fully integrated so that the analysis results are automatically transferred to the prestressed beam design modules. These features were considered a major benefit to the designers, in particular due to the time savings achieved in establishing critical load patterns. Client: Transit New Zealand |
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