Timber-piled embankments over soft ground

The City West Link Road Section 3, New South Wales, Australia consists of a 1.7 km length of 4 lane divided dual carriageway. One of the components of the project was to construct the 130 in long Hawthorne Canal Bridge located on soft alluvial soils. Due to land constraints preloading of the bridge approach areas was impossible. Reinforced soil walls were used in those areas to support the sides of the road embankments. To meet the tight settlement criteria as well as to maintain the required pavement transition between the bridge and the road embankments, timber piles were used in the bridge approach areas to fully carry the embankment loads.