THE Umhlatuzana River Bridge in Durban has won a 2022 Fulton Award, Southern Africa’s highly sought-after biennial accolade for outstanding concrete construction, with another provincial bridge structure earning a Fulton Award Commendation.
The prestigious Fulton Awards, which is awarded every two years by Cement & Concrete SA (CCSA), recognise and honour ‘excellence in the design, use and innovation in concrete’. Originally scheduled for last year, the awards were postponed to 2022 because of the disruptive pandemic lockdowns and economic pressures.
The winners were announced at a gala function in Johannesburg on 10 June, and the event was for the first time streamed live to satellite functions in Durban and Cape Town.
The winner in the Fulton’s ‘Infrastructure of under R100m’ category is the modification of the Umhlatuzana River Bridge in Durban. Entered by the eThekwini Municipality Roads Provision Department’s Structures Branch which undertook the project for the municipality’s engineering unit, the bridge won the judges’ praise for “the unique solution that overcame extensive challenges to save a large part of the bridge while causing limited damage to the existing habitat”.
The road bridge was severely damaged in KZN’s 2019 floods and links Seaward Road in Clairwood with Sarnia in Pinetown.
The commendation in this category was another KZN bridge modification: the Durban Essex Terrace/M13 Bridge widening, also entered by the eThekwini Municipality Roads Provision Department’s Structures Branch following commissioning by the eThekwini Transport Authority.
The 2022 Fulton Awards winners have been entered into the American Concrete Institute’s Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards. CCSA, as an International Partner of ACI, was invited to nominate Fulton Award winners for the ACI awards which honour exceptional concrete construction from around the world. The winners of these awards will be announced on October 24, 2022, during the ACI Concrete Convention in Dallas, Texas.
