Large span. Low Impact. Fleetwood's first-ever swing bridge.

There’s more than one way to connect a local community. Whilst Fleetwood has delivered a huge array of pedestrian bridges over the past 50 years, we’ve recently designed and installed our first-ever swing bridge – a 50-metre structure for Hornsby Shire Council set amongst the trees at Pyes Creek in suburban Cherrybrook – and it’s unlikely to be our last.

Lighter, less invasive and typically more economical than larger fixed structures, pedestrian swing bridges offer many benefits to local communities.

As Fleetwood Head of Delivery, John Dahdah explains, “they can provide an ideal connection across ecologically-sensitive and hard-to-access sites”.

“The beauty of a swing bridge is its simplicity. The entire structure can usually be delivered without requiring heavy equipment or cranes,” John says. “Instead, the bridge is hand-assembled, piece by piece. This makes it a great option for restricted areas like Pyes Creek where the site is quite steep and surrounded by native flora and fauna. Swing bridges generally require far less excavation and carbon-intensive materials like concrete, which helps to keep project costs down – not to mention reduce the environmental impacts. They’re usually a lot faster to install and less disruptive for local residents too.”

Immersed in nature.

Another unique attribute of swing bridges is the way users can feel totally immersed in the natural environment when they make the journey across whilst leaving the sensitive ground plane untouched.

“It’s like travelling through the trees from stump to canopy and back again”, says Fleetwood Creative & Design Lead, Mark Jol. “This is due to the small footprint of the bridge at the connection points, with the rest of the structure being suspended high above the ground. Even when you’re quite close to suburbia like Pyes Creek, you really feel part of the forest.”

Expertly installed, by hand.

Fleetwood Site Manager, Brendan Jol, has delivered numerous swing bridges during his career and was directly involved in the recent installation at Pyes Creek.

“50 metres is a reasonably large span for a swing bridge,” says Brendan, explaining the final structure was designed and engineered using a combination of AS 2156, AS 5100 and European bridge codes, and installed in line with ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems).

“There was a lot of careful pre-planning and site preparation, including quite a bit of hand excavation,” Brendan continues. “When the install itself began, we worked closely with our specialist rigging partners to get everything just right. It’s all gone very smoothly.”

The installation process began by running a service line high across Pyes Creek and then securing the two main support cables – 30mm diameter galvanised steel, custom manufactured in Europe – with 10-metre-deep rock anchors at both ends of the bridge. (In case you’re wondering, each of the four anchor points has a load rating of 48.5 tonnes!)

From there, the bridge was hand-assembled from the support cables in sections, with 32 galvanised steel cross beams, fully enclosed wire mesh side panels, webnet balustrades, stainless steel handrails and high durability/low weight FRP mini-mesh decking.

To minimise sway and ensure maximum user comfort and safety for years to come, the finished walkway was further stabilised with four 20mm cable/tension supports anchored directly into the adjacent creek banks.

Upswing in popularity.

As we’ve written about before, pedestrian-based green bridges continue to rise in popularity across Australia. With so many benefits, we anticipate growing interest in swing-based structures like Pyes Creek in 2023 and beyond.

“LGAs and developers are increasingly conscious to the costs and environmental footprints of their access structures, so we hope to see more and more swing bridges,” says John Dahdah. “They’re not right for every application of course, but they certainly tick a lot of boxes in many communities, and are an option well worth considering.”

Delivered for Hornsby Shire Council as part of the NSW Government's $250 million NSW Public Spaces Legacy Program, the new swing bridge at Pyes Creek was recently opened to the public on 15 June 2023. The NSW Public Spaces Legacy Program is a significant investment in high quality public open space. Together with the NSW Government, Hornsby Council is delivering infrastructure for communities to love the place they live.

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