Iron Cove Bridge geotechnical drilling

The geotech investigation of the muck next to the Iron Cove Bridge seems to be going well. When I went past last week, the barge with the drill rig was on this side of the Bay. Now, it is right over the other side near the swimming pool that will presumably be demolished to make way for a new bridge.



The protesters are up in arms about the drilling going ahead, accusing the government of bad faith etc, but the reality is that any bonehead with half a brain can see that there is only one place to put the bridge, and that's on the side of the bridge where they are currently doing the drilling. Building on the other side would involve demolishing a lot of expensive real estate, and it ain't going to happen.

But it's typical of the nutters opposing the bridge that they'd rather see $10 million worth of apartments and houses demolished than about 1/4 acre of a park and a swimming pool.

Personally, I think the bridge is the stupidest solution to the traffic problem around here. What's really needed is a tunnel under the Darling St intersection, but building that would cause immense traffic confusion for a few years. Building a bridge is the smart political solution - it won't be finished before the next election, it will not disrupt traffic as much as a tunnel, and the local Labor MPs can point to it and say, "Look, we're doing something" - even if they are doing something stupid.