The use of a Black Hawk helicopter to support upgrades at Steven’s Weir at Deniliquin last week has been hailed as an amazing time and cost saver.
WaterNSW enlisted the services of commercial helicopter operator Black Edge Aviation as it was the “safest and most cost-effective method of undertaking a safety upgrade of a walkway at Steven’s Weir”.
“It took just a few hours on Thursday morning for the Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter to replace the walkway on the downstream face of the weir,” a WaterNSW spokesperson said.
“A comprehensive analysis of the project indicated that a crane of sufficient capacity to undertake the work could not access the worksite without being disassembled and then reassembled on site, as well as building a temporary crane pad and removing nearby gardens.
“This costly and time-consuming exercise would then need to be repeated to get the crane to the other side of the river to complete the work, making a helicopter the most cost-effective solution.
“Work to install handrails on the new walkway will continue over the next few weeks to complete the safety upgrade.”