Bridges

The RTA has a large and growing construction budget each year for new works. All major works are carried out under Quality Assurance (QA) contracts. QA has been used to deliver construction contracts within the RTA since the early 1990’s. Within the RTA, QA Management has evolved. This evolution has captured the intent of the AS/NZS ISO9001 (2000) documents but with additional client safeguards to help ensure that the RTA requirements are met. Asset owners suffer from reduced funding for bridge maintenance but with increased serviceability requirements from asset users. The maintenance requirements of a bridge are predicated on the design adopted and the quality of the construction with regard to the environment. In 2007, the RTA established a program to improve the quality of its new construction works. This came about as it was recognised that the quality of the works across the RTA was not consistent and producing some assets with a future high maintenance burden. A program was developed which involved five new initiatives and improvements to existing programs that affected quality. The initiatives adopted are: modify contractor quality culture, Quality Technical Directions, Industry RTA Quality Forum, construction industry training and improved contractor performance reporting.