The foot of this bridge is subject to flash flooding with high velocity water flows, which have seen conventional hard engineering solutions fail, due to being unsustainable and costly to build and maintain. A new bridge was also being built parallel to the old bridge and both required an effective mechanism for batter protection and stabilisation.
Using the design developed by Veticon Consulting, Vetiver bioengineering technology was adopted to stabilise, strengthen and protect the batters under both bridges against water and flash flooding. Vetiver System designed hedgerows were planted on the contour to stabilise the batter, and cross rows planted to reduce water flow velocity.
The Vetiver System completely stabilised, strengthened and protected the batters against erosion, including through several flash floods. The Vetiver System has ensured the integrity of the structures and fully protected the bridge abutment since 2003.