TOWNSVILLE PORT ACCESS ROAD

PROJECT SUMMARY

The Townsville Port Access Road (TPAR) Project comprises of a new 2 lane road link between the Finders Highway and the Townsville Port in southern Townsville. The project scope included 10km of new 2 lane road and connections, soft soil treatments, 7 bridge structures, drainage, earthworks, pavements, surfacing, road furniture, electrical, ITS, retaining walls and landscaping.

The project was split into three sections; Stuart Bypass, Eastern Access Corridor and the Ross River Bridge. The project was constructed by the Lend Lease Seymour Whyte Joint Venture, design by Aecom as a novated design subcontract to the JV.

The project was delivered as an Early Contractor Involvement Design and Construct Lump Sum, with pain/gain share as adjusted by KRAs.

A relationship frame work and PLG was adopted for the project.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The geotechnical conditions at the Ross River Bridge were very complex. The bedrock foundation is 80m deep with no substantially hard layers. The project gained design approval via E&T to construct a non-standard pipe pile design to approximately 50m deep. The pipe pile design relied on skin friction developed between the insitu ground and the steel liners, which was then transferred into the concrete pile via welded internal keys.

The Ross River bridge area was subject to a complicated EPBC referral which provided mitigation for the local fauna including, migrating sea birds and snub fin dolphins. The project was successfully constructed employing the mitigation measures successfully.

The Ross River bridge was placed on hold for 12 months due to the delayed relocation of upstream marine users. The new bridge restricts passage height and width and therefore could not be constructed until the upstream users had been relocated. A project ‘hibernation’ variation was successfully valued and agreed between all parties which detailed associated costs to all parties and risks. The project resumed from hibernation and was completed by the end of 2012 as planned.