Western Harbour Tunnel, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Aurecon is transforming Sydney Harbour, replacing dredging with TBM tunnel engineering to deliver a faster, safer and more sustainable second harbour crossing.
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Peninsula Link, a four lane 27 km freeway, provides a link between EastLink at Carrum Downs and the Mornington Peninsula Freeway at Mount Martha, south of Melbourne.
The Aurecon‐SKM Design Joint Venture was appointed by Abigroup as principal design consultants for the project. The freeway incorporates nine interchanges, eight other grade separations, 40 waterway crossings, and a 23 km shared use path.
Aurecon utilised its resources in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and South Africa to deliver the required design packages within a challenging design and construct programme and under strict quality requirements. Bridge design packages were split between offices which enabled the early construction of several bridges.
Transyt traffic modelling software was used to justify the removal of a turning lane at one of the interchanges, significantly reducing the width of the structure and the resultant construction cost.
The design optimised the road geometry at the three level freeway to freeway EastLink interchange, enabling the main nine span bridge structure to be reduced in area by over 30 per cent. This provided substantial cost savings and reduced environmental impact on the local high value vegetation.
The freeway alignment crosses the Pines Flora and Fauna Reserve, an important, environmentally sensitive home to regionally and nationally significant native fauna and flora. The team led a collaborative design process which optimised the alignment to reduce impact on higher quality vegetation and restore the natural overland flow regime. The design incorporated a fauna underpass to provide habitat connectivity beneath the freeway and allow for the creation of habitat for Dwarf Galaxias, a protected fish species.
Importantly, the works were designed for minimal maintenance intervention, thereby providing a truly sustainable outcome.
Construction was completed early 2013.
Aurecon is transforming Sydney Harbour, replacing dredging with TBM tunnel engineering to deliver a faster, safer and more sustainable second harbour crossing.
Aurecon's active transport design expertise supports TfNSW to create a seamless, unobtrusive, step-free ramp and cycleway across Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Aurecon's expertise in tunnel systems helps design the replacement of the Burnley Tunnel's low-voltage cables to keep the city's busiest road links moving.
