Analysis of the Failure of the West Gate Bridge - Case Study Example

Project Management Name Institution Professor Course Date Executive summary This report analyses the Failure of the West Gate Bridge and the manner in which the project was planned and performed. The main objective of the project was that to improve and lead to ease of transport and movement of people from the inner city also termed as the CBD and the Melbourne western suburbs with the other industrial suburbs located in the west as well as with the city of Geelong. A project stakeholders analysis have been undertaken and it have identified the stakeholders of the project and the role that each of them played in the project. Based on the report the failure of the project is mainly attributed to lack of integration among the parties involved in building of the bridge, lack of communication and collaboration among the parities. It can also be noted that the project also failed due to use of parties that were less experienced and imbalance in the division of the role and responsibilities among the parties involved in the West Gate Bridge project. Introduction The West Gate Bridge is termed as a steel box girder cable-stayed bridge and it is located in Melbourne, Australia. The bridge spans the Yarra River, north to its mouth is Port Philip and the bridges is vital in that it links the inner city also termed as the CBD and the Melbourne western suburbs with the other industrial suburbs located in the west as well as with the city of Geelong. The bridge is termed to be aiming the busiest road corridor in Australia. The river spans a distance of 336 meters in terms of length and a height of 58 meters. The bridges length amounts to 2,582.6 meters. When compared to other bridges in Australia, the bridge is termed as the third longest bridge in Australia just behind the Macleay River Bridge and the Houghton highway. The bridge is twice the length of the Sydney Harbout Bridge and it is also among the highest bridges in Australia (The West Gate Bridge Strengthening Project n.d). Appendix 1 shows an image of the West Gate Bridge. The main objective of the project was that to improve and lead to ease of transport and movement of people from the inner city also termed as the CBD and the Melbourne western suburbs with the other industrial suburbs located in the west as well as with the city of Geelong. The bridge aimed at providing a safer as well as a more efficient movement of people and the general traffic and this would be of great benefit in that it will ease and improve connection in both locations and at the same time reduce travel between the CBD and the Melbourne western suburbs with the other industrial suburb. Stakeholder’s analysis Project stakeholders are termed as a group, individuals, organization who may affect, are affected y, or perceive themselves to be affected by a certain activity decisions or outcome of a certain project (Hartley 2009). In simpler terms they are the entities that tend to have a certain interest in a certain project and the stakeholders’ may be entities within the organization or outside it. Therefore it is crucial to identify and at the same time manage the stakeholders since they can play an essential role in the success of the project but some of the stakeholders can also hinder the project and by doing so it will have an impact of the projects success. There are a number of stakeholders that were involved and would be affected by the West Gate bridge project. The owner of the project are the Victorian government and thus they played an essential role in ensuring that they funded the project both before the collapse and after the collapse to ensure that the project was completed. This would play an essential role in ensuring that the project deliverables were met (Bjarne 2007). By doing these the end users of the project would benefit in that there travel from the east to the west would be eased in that they could take a shorter period of time and at the same time congestion would be eased. Another group of stakeholders are the contractors of the project. Before the collapse the main contractor were the world services and construction. There was also the project manager and he was tasked with the responsibility of managing the overall implementation of the construction of the bridge with the aim of achieving a successful completion of the project and also leading the project in the right direction. The West Gate Bridge project also needs to consider other stakeholders who were to be impacted y the project output. The residents would be impacted greatly. This was based on the fact that the West Gate Bridge will enhance travelling of the people since it will ease their movement to and from work. Additionally the Taxi drivers, bus drivers and other commuters will make use of the West Gate Bridge. This group of stakeholders is commonly termed as the end users in that they are the ones who will make use of the bridge when completed. The West Gate Bridge will act as a vital transport artery for a great number of the Victoria’s commuters and other freight traffic and the bridge will act as a crucial link between the west and east of Melbourne. The other stakeholder was the Lower Yarra Crossing Authority which is a non-profit company and it was tasked with the duty of constructing and operating the crossing. Another major stakeholder in the project was PLUM Communication, they played an effective role in delivering the communication as well as the stakeholder’s strategy of the project and they achieved this by offering resources for the alliances management team and also for the communication function (PLUM Communication n.d). Description of management of the project The success or failure of a project seems to be highly dependent on the structure and management adopted to ensure the completion of the project. Though during the initial stages efforts were aimed at open communication, careful organization and planning but along the way these seem to have failed (Wysocki 2013). Based on these a number of challenges were encountered which had great impacts on the project with the most noteworthy impact being the failure of the project in that the bridge collapsed and lead to greater losses. In this regard the project had to incur additional costs since the collapsed part needed to be fixed and additional measures needed to be put in place to avoid collapse of the bridge at a later date. Critical analysis of the project outcome Before the strengthening of the bridge the project can be said to have been a complete failure (Harrison & Lock 2004). Based on these a number of structural problems were identified as being the major causes of the project failure in the first place. One of the major reasons for the failure was that there was lack of integration among the parties. In all projects the responsibilities and roles of the parties involved seems to be totally different but at the same time, all the involved parties needs support and information from the other parties for them to undertake their duties in the most effective manner (Hartley 2009). This was not the case in the West Gate Bridge project since they lacked integration and communication. The WSC which was one of the key parties that was involved in the project was removed from the project and the major reason that was cited what that it failed to meet the set deadlines. Based on investigations it became clear that the delay was mainly caused by lack of support from the other party which was the FF & P in that it failed to offer some important information and at the same time failed to respond to the queries made by WSC on time and this resulted in friction between the parties (Phillips 2003). The lack of cooperation and communication between the parties depicts that the project stricture was ineffective and weak. The project also failed due to the selection of parties that were less experienced. After the WSC (World Service Construction) was removed their role in the project was replaced with John Holland (Constructions) Pty Ltd JHC. When compared to the other available options JHC was the most inexperienced party. This also resulted into a difference on the legal issues and technical issues. Due to the lack of experience the other (Gido and Clements 2009) parties involved in the project were strained in that they were expected to offer greater level of assistance. The project also failed as a result of imbalance in the division of the role and responsibilities among the parties involved in the West Gate Bridge project. After JHC was appointed, the FFP was assigned with extra roles and responsibilities. The differences that were prevalent in regard to the roles and responsibilities led to a lot of confusion among the engineers and staff of JHC and this also greatly to the failure of the project (The WorkSafe Victoria’s Construction safety circulation service 2003). Thus, it is evident that the structural and managerial weaknesses were major contributors to the failure of the project. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be ascertained that the collapse of the West Gate Bridge proved to be a failure to all the involved parties. Therefore, all the involved parties needed to ensure that they communicated well with each other and this would have played an essential role in the successful completion of the project. This project proves that for a project to be successful one excellent management skills needs to be applied by the project team and all the involved parties need to responds to the queries of others and this needs to be done on a timely basis. References Gido, J and Clements, J 2009, Successful Project Management, Cengage Learning, Canada. Harrison, F & Lock, D 2004, Advanced project management: a structured approach, Gower Publishing Ltd, Farnham. Hartley, S 2009, Project Management: Principles, Processes and Practice, Pearson Education, Australia. Kousholt, B 2007, Project Management: Theory and practice, Nyt Teknisk Forlag. Phillips, J 2003, PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. PLUM Communication n.d, West Gate ridge Strengthening Alliance, viewed 30 September 2016, http://www.plumco.com.au/Portals/0/Documents/General/West%20Gate%20Bridge%20Testimonial.pdf The West Gate Bridge Strengthening Project n.d, West Gate Bridge Strengthening Project, viewed 30 September 2016, http://www.acaa.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/WEST-GATE-BRIDGE-STRENGTHENING-PROJECT.pdf The WorkSafe Victoria’s Construction safety circulation service 2003, The West Gate Bridge and Pat Preston, viewed 30 September 2016, http://www.westgatebridge.org/sites/default/files/downloads/pat_preston.pdf Wysocki, R 2013, Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey. Appendix Appendix 1: Picture of West Gate Bridge Read More