The first major installation of the PermaTrak concrete boardwalk system on the NSW South Coast was installed recently by Shoalhaven City Council as part of a shared cycleway at White Sands Caravan Park, Vincentia, linking Huskisson and Sanctuary Point.
The precast Rocla® system helped minimize impact on the environmentally sensitive site at Jervis Bay. Shoalhaven Council considered several options for the elevated boardwalk sections of the path before specifying the PermaTrak system. According to the Council’s landscape architect, Kay Murray, a major attraction was the durability of the steel-reinforced concrete system and the virtual elimination of maintenance.
“With a concrete system we won’t have to replace it in ten or fifteen years,” Kay said. “But we also wanted a system that would have minimal impact on the hilly areas on the site which contained remnant vegetation.”A further consideration was the limited space for excavation. A key feature of the PermaTrak system is its ease of installation and low site impact.
Two sections of raised boardwalk were installed along the concrete track, one straight and the other a 24m curving, downhill section.
Approximately 42 metres of PermaTrak boardwalk were installed to traverse around the headland and link with the shared path. Precast components included 30 stumps, 12 headwalls, 153 straight treads and 45 tapered treads. 300mm diameter RCPs were used as piers for the boardwalk, placed on a concrete base.
(Taken from Rocla – July 2008)
