The local municipality is seeking proposals to build a new bridge in the Vaal area. The existing bridge collapsed in 2016 due to poor maintenance, leaving residents without safe access to the city. Since the collapse, residents have struggled to access the city center during the rainy season when the river swells. As a construction company that was awarded the tender, you will need to propose a bridge design that addresses the community's needs and solves the issues caused by the collapsed bridge. Your proposal should explain the type of bridge, materials, and how the design resolves the access problems.

1. Grade 9 Structures

2. Developing the Chosen idea
• Final idea is refined after
the problematic aspects have
been solved.
Problem
statement
Design Brief
Investigation
Proposal
Initial stages
Research
Development
Planning
Making
Testing

3. RECAPPING
ON THE
PREVIOUS
LESSONS

5.  In 2016, a bridge collapsed in a small community in the Vaal area after the rainy
seasons. Since then, local residents have been struggling to access the city using a
safe proper infrastructure. During rainy season, the river swells twice its normal
width making it impossible to walk or swim
 While others believe that the collapse of the bridge was triggered by the rainy
season, the have been speculations implying that the bridge might have collapsed
due to poor maintenance or negligence by the local municipality.
 Therefore, your construction company has applied for a tender that was
advertised by the local municipality.

6. • Poor maintenance led to the
collapse of the Vaal bridge
• This was a linking bridge
providing access to the CBD
• Since the bridge collapsed in
2016, residents were forced
to used unsafe alternative
ways to access the CBD

8.  Old Linking Bridge collapsed due to poor Maintenance.
 The Vaal community does not have easy access to the city
 Disruption in the flow of goods between the two places
 The inconvenience has affected local business profits

9.  Referred to as squashing force
 Pushing towards each other

10.  The stretching Force
 A member under tension force is called a tie

11.  Referred to as turning force
 The turning or twisting force that causes torsion is called
torque

13.  Once all the problematic aspects have been solved during
the research stage, we develop the chosen idea
 Development is essentially the process that takes a product
or idea from a hypothesis to a usable product.
 For example, Ideas regarding the development of a bridge
fitting the criteria given

17.  As a construction company (in groups)
 Explain what kind of a bridge you are going to
make.
 The material that will be used to make this bridge
together with reasons why these will make a better
bridge.
 Explain how this design will solve the problems
identified (in the first stage)