The Courier Mail reported last week that Brisbane’s Northern Link tunnel has been given the green light, with work to commence by the end of next year.
The Mail reported that Brisbane City Council would borrow from the Queensland Treasury Corporation after failing to find private investors to come on board.
In Sydney, the Herald reported this week that construction costs for the new Iron Cove bridge, in the city’s inner west, had blown out by $15 million.
And the Australian Financial Review has reported that the latest AIG-HIA performance of construction index showed a contraction of activity for an 18th consecutive month in August.
Construction of the new $200 million Western Freeway route between Melton and Bacchus Marsh is one step closer, with VicRoads alliance partners John Holland and AECOM announced this week.
Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, said preconstruction activities were already in full swing on site.
More than 29,000 vehicles per day, including more than 4000 freight vehicles, travel this section of the highway, which forms part of the national highway link between Melbourne and Adelaide.
Victorian Roads Minister, Tim Pallas, said that when completed, the new Western Freeway route would deliver major economic benefits for the road freight industry and its customers.
Major construction is scheduled to commence early 2010 with the completion of the project scheduled for early 2012.
Work officially commenced last week on the Bruce Highway Cooroy to Curra Section B upgrade.
The contract for the first stage of bulk earthworks has been awarded to Abigroup.
The Federal Government is meeting $488 million of the $613 million price tag for the upgrade, with the Queensland Government meeting the rest.
Queensland Main Roads Minister, Craig Wallace, said last week the busy stretch of highway currently carried approximately 16,000 vehicles a day, and the upgrade would ensure it had the capacity to meet the expected growth in traffic volumes of five per cent a year.
The upgrade is scheduled for completion in 2012.
In other Queensland news, the $45 million upgrade of the Nerang South interchange (Exit 73) on the Pacific Motorway was completed last week, four months ahead of schedule.
The project is the first completed as part of the $420 million upgrade of the Pacific Motorway from Nerang to Tugun.
NSW Roads Minister, Michael Daley, this week launched the RTA’s new urban design policy, Beyond the Pavement.
Mr Daley said the new manual would help keep the RTA at the forefront of urban design.
“The RTA is as good as any agency in the country at building roads, and its emphasis on urban design is really the icing on the cake,” he said.
“Putting time and resources into the design of new roads really makes a difference to people’s lives.
“The agency goes to great lengths to make sure new projects fit in within the surrounding environment and their trophy cabinet certainly reflects this.
“The iconic Sea Cliff Bridge north of Wollongong, the M7 Interchange in Sydney’s west and the Falcon Street Pedestrian Bridge in Sydney’s north are all fine examples of this.”
Mr Daley said the Great Western Highway upgrade was another example of the importance placed on preserving the local landscape.
“The RTA has spent a lot of time and effort making sure the new upgrade through the Blue Mountains is in keeping with the natural landscape and landforms,” he said.
“They’ve also tried to make sure the local heritage and history of each town is reflected in the road design.
“Current projects that are being developed in accordance with Beyond the Pavement include the upgrade of the Pacific Highway, the Northern Distributor Extension in Wollongong, and the duplication of the Hume Highway in the state’s south.”
RTA Urban Design Manager, Gareth Collin, said the agency had become a leader in the field since urban design was initiated in projects ten years ago.
Click here to view Beyond the Pavement.
Southern Gateway Alliance, comprising Leighton Contractors, WA Limestone and GHD, has been awarded a $115 million contract to build the Mandurah Entrance Road, connecting the existing Mandurah road networks with the New Perth Bunbury Highway (NPBH).
The new contract includes the design and construction of 6.5kms of a four-lane dual carriageway, a rail tunnel extension plus a new tunnel for the Perth to Mandurah rail line, a new intersection at Mandurah Road, and other related infrastructure including fauna underpasses.
The WA Minister for Transport, Simon O’Brien, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia, Gary Gray, and Acting Commissioner of Main Roads WA, John Marmion, marked the start of works this week with a ground breaking ceremony.
Ray Sputore, General Manager Western Region, Construction Division of Leighton Contractors, said the contract was a significant achievement and was testament to the success of the NPBH project.
“The Mandurah Entrance Road is a key piece of infrastructure for the area, linking the State’s largest ever road project, the Kwinana Freeway extension - Forrest Highway, to a major regional centre,” Mr Sputore said.
“We are proud to be creating such a significant piece of road infrastructure in Western Australia, and look forward to working with our Alliance partners to build on our track record of delivering exceptional transport solutions.”
The Southern Gateway Alliance is on track to deliver the NPBH more than three months ahead of schedule, within budget and with a strong safety performance.
The Mandurah Entrance Road will be jointly funded by the Federal and Western Australian governments and is scheduled for completion in December 2010.
The new risks climate change presents for the infrastructure industry will reshape its future and lead to an evolution in industry practice and contractual risk allocation, according to Clayton Utz Construction and Major Projects partner, Owen Hayford.
Speaking last week at the first in a series of seminars on climate change and infrastructure, a joint initiative of Clayton Utz and Parsons Brinckerhoff, Mr Hayford said participants in infrastructure developments needed to carefully consider and start to address the various risks climate change presents – physical, regulatory and market-related.
"We're already seeing industry engagement in government policy development in addressing regulatory risks such as the Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme for example, but we will also see greater focus on allocating or sharing these risks contractually as well as attempts to pass on the costs associated with climate change regulations," Mr Hayford said.
In addressing market-related risks such as higher insurance costs and increased prices for certain goods and services, Mr Hayford said he expected the industry to respond by undertaking more detailed risk assessments on the impact climate change might have on a project's revenues and costs.
"For example, if you are looking at investing in a port facility, you will want to consider the impact which climate change might have on demand for the goods which are expected to pass through the port," he said. "We will also see attempts to allocate or share market-related climate change risks up front in the project contracts, as well as a greater emphasis on physical risk reduction and loss minimisation strategies, if only to reduce insurance premiums associated with property damage and business interruption insurance."
The potential climate change impacts on projects would also lead to changes in risk allocation in contracts in relation to design risk, emissions risk, change in law risk, and price risk, among others.
"I expect we will see the introduction of a ratings scheme for infrastructure similar to the Green Star scheme which applies in relation to building projects, which will see similar issues in relation to the contractual allocation of responsibility for achieving a particular rating as we presently see within the commercial building industry," Mr Hayford said.
Mr Hayford said he also expected to see a greater focus on weather-related events in force majeure, extension of time and relief event clauses in contracts, applicable during the construction of infrastructure projects and during their operation and maintenance.
"I expect we will see greater regard to weather-related risks in operation, maintenance and repair plans for infrastructure projects, and increased demand for more comprehensive property damage and business interruption insurance to protect owners and operators of infrastructure against losses incurred as a result of floods, hail damage, lightning, wind gusts and other extreme climate events as the incidence of these events increases, " Mr Hayford said.
"The standard of care expected of designers of infrastructure facilities will also increase as designers will be expected to design facilities to cope with foreseeable impacts of climate change. The foreseeability of climate change risks will also influence the content of fitness for purpose obligations going forward."
Peak hour delays can be cut by more than a third – saving motorists millions in lost time and fuel costs – by simply fine-tuning the traffic lights, according to a new study by GHD.
Route optimisation trials carried out by GHD transport systems specialists Blair Monk and Tim Booth found that better coordination of traffic signals could reduce fuel consumption by at least 10 percent and cut travel time by more than 13 percent for city road users.
Mr Monk, who manages the GHD intelligent transport systems team in New Zealand, presented his work at the International Public Works Conference in Melbourne.
The avoidable cost of congestion is estimated at almost $10 billion a year in Australia, and could rise to more than double that by 2020, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.
“Route optimisation, which is essentially the more efficient coordination of a corridor of traffic signals, can significantly cut travel time, and reduce stop-starts and idling time,” Mr Monk said.
“All of these factors have an effect on vehicle fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and safety.
“Our work shows that route optimisation can contribute positively to economic development, accessibility and mobility without major infrastructure works, and at a greatly reduced cost.”
One trial, on five adjacent intersections in Auckland, was estimated to have saved road users a total of 63,453 hours over one year and more than 214,660 litres of fuel. The trial showed potential savings of more than $1 million a year.
A second trial, on nine intersections, reduced peak hour delays by more than 50 percent in one direction, and by as much as a third in others.
But it is not just reducing congestion that is of interest. GHD has also been helping clients to achieve other objectives through route optimisation, including improving the safety of pedestrians and cyclists and promoting public transport use.
For example, signals can be configured to reduce the amount of traffic through a town centre by encouraging an alternative route, or to give pedestrians priority over cars by making crossing times more frequent.
In one city, where a new cycle lane was disrupting traffic on a key arterial route, route optimisation helped improve safety and reduce traffic delays.
Route optimisation can also be used to give priority to public transport – without delaying other traffic. An innovative solution gave priority to buses, but only when they were running late, improving travel times for all road users.
Mr Monk said governments were beginning to see to the economic and environmental benefits of investing in route optimisation, but he said ongoing funding for route optimisation needed to be identified to reduce traffic congestion and energy use in the transport sector. He said more funds should be allocated to route optimisation programs.
“This is another way to meet ongoing demand and a realistic alternative to continuing to physically build capacity. Why not improve the performance of what we already have?” Mr Monk said.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Friday September 11th 2009 11:14am
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