UNDERNEATH THE BRIDGE AFTER FLOOD - Pics taken 20 October 2014

Hi folks,  yes I know I have not update this for a while and sorry for that because I had lots of other news to follow up for the printed media.

Anyway, after the first two floods in October 7th and 10th, I went down below the bridge because the mud at the river bank was reasonably dry to walk on. I wanted to find out if the works on the bridge did contribute to the higher flood levels.

In my opinion, it did as the photos below will prove, but most of them are temporary works and a JKR site supervisor I met did confirm to me that the bosses above scold them and the contractors for leaving the temporary works in the river, or maybe the works were rather slow. Of course afterwards all the rocks and earthworks were removed using the excavator and now the river bed is cleared of those rocks and the red earth for temporary access was partially removed.

This is probably the reason that the 3rd flood that occurred on 23rd November was quite low and receded very fast.

Anyway after I had taken the photos below, as I was walking back to my car, some stupid mad dog bit my legs at the ankle by surprise. The stupid dog simply came behind me without any sound so I was not aware such dog was around. There were two bite marks on both sides of my right foot and it was bleeding.  So I swore at the dog owner and threatened to make a police report. He apologised saying the dog got loose from whatever, and offered to take me to the hospital, which I refused because I was in a hurry to interview my new friend Mr James L.

I told the guy I am going to see my doctor friend at Donggongon to get immediate treatment. So I quickly drove in my car in he followed behind in his car.  After reaching the clinic at Donggongon, I got attended to quite fast because there was only one other patient waiting.

Dr Freddy assured me there is no known rabies here in Penampang, and just some wound treatment and anti-tetanus jab did the job very well. I did not feel any pain and the bite would simply closed up and healed. Lucky me eh?

Well, the dog owner footed the medical bill, shook hands with him and said I am in a hurry to go for the interview.

Oh well, here are the pics.

 Below the bridge, the temporary earth and stones there for access of excavator under the bridge did constrict the flow of flood water.

 The RH bank still have earth spills that may or may not be cleared after the works are completed.  If they are not cleared, I will submit the complaint to Daily Express.

 The earthworks being cleared. Definitely this contributed to higher flood levels.

 

Below the new bridge, you can see gabion wires and the sheet piles. Those are temporary works as part of the methodology to install the heavy prestressed concrete beams across the river.

 

 

Another view of the old bridge, which clearly shows the river has narrowed here due to deposition of old sediment. The old siltation sometimes collapse during floods as can be seen at the left bank.

Bamboo clumps that collapsed from the bank and fell to the bottom of the river also caused blockages and obstructions to the flow of the river. No doubt these are the main cause of high flood levels.

The beams are still waiting to be installed because I am told the contractor's big cranes are still being used in another project, so there is some delay on the works for this project

The stone filling here a temporary work as firm ground to install the beams above. Lot of people including myself were mistaken that this would be the road approach to the bridge. No man, this filling will be dug out and the river bank re-instated to its original slope once the long beams are installed and other short beams will be placed between those two concrete pile caps.

FINALLY,  the bambangan tree is DYING, just as I predicted.

After bearing its final bunches of fruits, the leaves are not green anymore, well what colour is that eh?  That is the colour of a dying tree.
Reason, the roots cannot breath and not getting oxygen and water after being covered with the red clay filling.

Bye bye, now where can I replant a bambangan tree with the RAJA Bambangan seedlings growing inside a polybag at my garden eh??

cheers, that's all for now.

oops, oh no!, I forgot about the great wall of china in Penampang, here goes.

The concrete drain is higher than the existing road by about 1.5meteres. This is because the height of the new bridge will be that higher and the road is going to be filled as a ramp to join the new bridge. But those land properties nearby will really looked ridiculous in future, he he he

I submitted this pic to the newspapers but the editors did not see it as newsworthy.

PROGRESS AS ON 18 SEPT 2014 - Getting Ready to Install the Prestressed Beams

As on 18 September 2014, the contractor is nearly ready to install the first beam across the river, however the cranes to lift those beams are yet to arrive.
This would be the first bridge in Penampang with a long span beam of this type and would be a very interesting event to witness.

 Right hand bank:  The filling to the formation level of the road is nearly completed. Remaining work would be gravel stones and the premix layer.
(oops, wrong. below is the correction)

This is not the formation level but a temporary filling at the right bank in order to install the 5 prestressed beams. After that this will be removed to re-instated the original slope of river bank. My next posting will clarify this issue. (corrections inserted 9 Nov 2014)

 Left bank viewed from the opposite side:
The earth bank is probably meant for construction access and would be removed once the works are completed.  I hope some of the earth near the waterline would be recovered otherwise wasted when the flood water simply brings them down to the sea.

 RH bank: the concrete retaining wall is now fully completed, waiting for the backfilling behind the wall.

Right hand bank pile cap:  Special grout as base for the rubber bearing which will carry the 5 prestressed beams.

 Filling between the abutment and left hand pile cap. (ooops, this is wrong)

Here is a correction inserted today 9 Nov 2013.
BOTH the pile caps here are meant to hold beams. The filling in between these two are temporary and is meant for access to drag and place the longest 45tons prestressed beams across the full width of the river starting from the cap at the right. After the 5 number of beams are installed, this filling will be dug out and the original slope of the river bank will be re-instated.
----  end correction.

 Meanwhile Telekom is re-aligning their cables by tunnelling under the existing road at the right hand bank of the river, next to the existing roundabout.



 

Close-up of their tunnelling or boring machine.  Note the boring piles stacked up ready to be connected from the machine with a chain-wheel.

 

PROGRESS AS ON 12TH SEPT 2014 - DAMBAI BRIDGE Bambangan fruits all GONE

Hi folks, just in case you like to see more photos, here you are:

 

 The road approaching the left abutment has been filled with road gravel and getting ready to roll all those beams onto the pile caps

 The end caps of the cable tendons are already fully sealed with cement grout.

 More gravel filling and compaction at left abutment.

 View of the prestressed beams from the end with two cappings for the steel cables.

 Earth filling between left bank abutment and pile cap

 Location for the bearings between prestressed beams and the pile caps

 Completed concrete retaining wall at the right bank to protect a house on top of the small hill.

 View of the left bank pile cap with earthfilling works.
Seems to me that those red clay needs more compaction otherwise they will all go to the river on the first rain.



And lastly this will be the last pic of the Bambangan tree that I will post because all the fruits are already gone or harvested by the owner or maybe the workers as well.  He he.

The Bambangan fruits are only good for making pickles.

 

PROGRESS AS ON 24TH AUG 2014

Something technical worth noting here:

 

The tendon cables end looked like this. Note the black tube already cut off because the cable duct has already been grouted.

After the tendon cables have been tensioned, notice that the beam have deflected upwards at the centre, or huncing upwards due to the compression of concrete at the bottom of the beam.

 The gap between the casting floor and the deflected midspan of the beam is about 90 cm

The other end of the beam with the two end-caps for the cables.

 Progress of the retaining wall

Concrete of pile caps have nearly reached the full strength



And the Bambangan fruits have nearly gone. Who took them, well maybe the owner and the workers ?

 

PROGRESS AS ON 17 AUG 2014

Hi folks, again some backlog of progress photos here.

I had been waiting for the chance to see the contractor tension the tendon cables but as I passed the worksite on this date, the work was already done and all I can see was this. The end caps were given a temporary covering  as they monitor the performance of the whole beam. The black pipe here is where they feed the grouting concrete to fill the voids in the tendon tubes.

View from the ends where there are two end caps

 View from the end with a single end cap

 Right hand bank, the works on the retaining wall and concreting of the rhs pile caps

 The river was muddy that day

 

And the bambangan fruits are nearly gone

 



SITE QUITE AND LOOKED ABANDONED FOR THE HARI RAYA HOLIDAYS as seen on 30 July 2014

Yes OF COURSE it is still holidays for the workers as on 30th July.

perhaps the workers deserve the long break as it is not that fun working under the sun, if you have ever tried just being a project supervisor.

Just being on site for one day will make all of your aircon office workers squirm. ha ha

 Not a soul seen on site since all workers on holidays even though 30 July is a working day.

 Five concrete beams all completed and the last two still waiting for the curing period.  Notice those cables jutting out from the top and bottom of the beams.  They are not yet tensioned and the end plates are still pending installation.

 At the left bank pile cap, these positions must be for the bearing points for the prestressed beams.

 Right bank pile cap have just been concreted.

 Extension base for the Slope retention wall

 Construction access for the bank protections or gabions

 Nearby, the cover for this waterpipe manhole was again broken and gone. Last time I saw, it was made of concrete but when vehicles ran over it, as always it get damaged and broken and some idiot even have his car wheel going into the gap.  Ha !

And the nearby bambangan fruit is still growing.  I think I gonna ask the owner for a few.

DAMBAI BRIDGE PROGRESS ON 23 JUNE 2014

Ooops this was last months progress pics which I did not upload on time, but anyway the works seems going slowly but smoothly and some breaks for Hari Raya on 28 and 29 July.

There was not much drastic changes so that's why sometimes I forgot to comment on my photos but here goes.

Four beams concreted on 23rd June
of course as of July all 5 beams completed but waiting for the cable tendons to be stressed. I think the concrete has to be fully cured before they can do that.

 Another view with the Bambangan tree at the background

 First part of retaining wall completed. There must be some continuation near that big boulder.

 Some excavator works under the bridge. Placing some rock armouring to protect the river banks from erosion.

 Big gap behind the retaining wall because of the size of the footing. The toe of the footing has to be long to ensure the wall do not slide or topple over.

And finally the bambangan fruit was big enough to make some dish, but somehow its seems most of them are now gone.  Must be free for everyone who happens to be around.