Bridges for all uses: 
Road, Pedestrian, Railway, Mining, Industrial... 

The long running Australian Small Bridges Conference provides practical guidance and alert bridge, road and rail engineers, asset owners, managers, contractors and suppliers about significant new developments and requirements for small to medium span bridges, including culverts and associated civil and geotechnical works.

The conference includes a Geotechnical Engineering and Civil Works Stream.

While the conference will be conducted in Australia, projects and topics can be from anywhere in the world.

Proudly Sponsored by our Platinum Sponsor:

UPDATE: The date and venue for the 11th Australian Small Bridges Conference has now been announced:

• Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, Queensland, Australia
• Tuesday 16th- Wednesday 17th May, 2023
• The First Call for Abstracts is now open (See below for details)
• Delegate Registration will open in November, 2022. The Super-Earlybird Registration Fee will be $AUD 990 inc GST.

For more information and/or to Register your interest in possibly attending as a delegate contact:

Karlene Matthews

Email: support@leadinginfrastructure.com

Phone: Only after 16th November 2022, 0409 182 215

For more information and/or to Register your interest in possibly speaking/exhibiting/sponsoring contact:

Scott Matthews

Email: scott@leadinginfrastructure.com

Phone: Only after 16th November 2022, 0448 777 058

About the conference

The Australian Small Bridges Conference has now been held ten times, and is conducted every 14-24 months. The first conference was held on 12-13 October 2005 in Sydney, Australia and to date it has been Chaired each time by Scott Matthews.

The conference alerts bridge and road engineers, managers, contractors and suppliers about significant new technical developments and requirements for short to medium bridges, and like structures including culverts, viewing platforms etc.

The conference will also have speakers on associated geotechnical engineering and civil works. All speakers are encouraged to deliver very practical presentations and technical papers.

The conference program is held over two days in multiple streams and has a focus on small to medium span bridges for road, rail, wildlife, stock and pedestrians.

Unlike most bridge conferences which are dominated with presentations mainly on very large bridges. Small and medium bridges are the most common type of bridge in use. Local Government Authorities are in particular currently faced with major challenges in their management.

Small to Medium Span Bridges are located not only within road reserves but also occur on railways, parks and gardens, national parks, mines, airfields, private property and in public areas such zoos. They bridges can be for road vehicles, trains, aircraft, mining equipment, pedestrians or even stock and wildlife.

This conference brings together councils, state government road managers, railways, government agencies and the private sector. Senior managers and leading practitioners and consultants in the bridge sector will present up-to-the-minute, highly relevant information to assist road/rail managers and engineers to perform their roles in an increasingly complex road environment.

The two-day program will include issues such as:

• Investigation and Testing

• Asset Management

• Condition Assessment

• Structural Design including Load Capacity

• Bridge Code Changes

• Repair, Maintenance, Refurbishment and or/Strengthening

• New Construction

• Timber, Concrete, Steel and Composite Bridges as well as Culverts

• Innovations in Design, Construction & Maintenance

• Architectural and Heritage Issues

• Road, Rail, Pedestrian, Mining and Airport Structures

• Geotechnical Engineering

• Retaining Walls and Earth Structures

• Piling

Experienced bridge practitioners and asset owners, including from local government, will present case studies that will focus on best practice in design, construction, maintenance, asset management and new technologies.

First Call for Abstracts: Now open, please submit
by Friday 9th December 2022

HOW TO SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT

To propose an abstract for presentation, please provide the following using a Word Document:

• Topic Title

• Synopsis (approx 100-300 words). Images and drawings may also be submitted.

• Author/s Name, Business Title, Organisation,
  Bio (approx 50 words) and pic (head-shot)

Please see our topics list above as a guide.
However papers on other topics will also be reviewed.

• Proposed Speaker/s (ie which of the co-authors
  if there are multiple authors will present at the conference)

• Do not submit as a PDF as we cannot edit and
  track charges on it.

Projects, and topics, can be located anywhere in the world. Presentations, and Technical Papers, are required to be in English.

Email all abstracts to:
Scott Matthews BEng
Conference Chair and Convenor
scott@leadinginfrastructure.com
(Please note that Scott will be in Europe from 27 Sep to 15 Nov
2022, and so please only email Scott in this period and do not try and
telephone)

SPEAKER REGISTRATION

All Speakers will need to register online and submit full payment for a two-day
speaker registration to attend the conference and present, unless they have a
two day registration as part of a Sponsorship or Exhibition Package.

TECHNICAL PAPERS

If your Abstract is accepted, a Technical Paper will need to be prepared and
lodged prior to the conference.

• You will need to use our Technical Paper
  Template, which would be forwarded after an Abstract has been accepted.

•  Do not submit as a PDF as we cannot
  edit and track charges on it.

• There is no maximum length limit for Technical
  Papers.

 

ASSET OWNER APPROVAL

 

If your accepted abstract is on an asset that you do not own please consult
with the asset owner on the suitability of your final technical paper and
presentation content including any necessary permission from the asset owner
for the abstract, technical paper and presentation.  Please also note that
this process can take some time with some asset owners.

Exhibition

The Conference will feature a comprehensive exhibition which will provide conference attendees the opportunity to view and discuss innovative products and services now available from bridge contractors, designers and suppliers.

This exhibition is Australasia’s only exhibition dedicated to small to medium bridges and will also be Australasia’s largest bridges exhibition.

Exhibition bookings will soon open.

Purchase of past proceedings

You can purchase the Proceedings(Technical Papers) for the last two conferences.

• Proceedings of the 10th Australian Small Bridges Conference 2021

• Proceedings of the 9th Australian Small Bridges Conference 2019

The Proceedings will be emailed to you as a password protected locked document containing all of our Technical Papers and watermarked as your personal copy. To view it each time you will need to login in with your assigned individual password.

• The Proceedings of the 10th Australian Small Bridges Conference 2021 has 491 pages. See SAMPLE with contents list of all topics HERE

• The Proceedings of the 9th Australian Small Bridges Conference 2019 has 507 pages. See SAMPLE with contents list of all topics HERE

To Purchase either proceedings please contact us via:

Email: support@leadinginfrastructure.com