Princes Highway East – Kilmany Upgrade Network Arch Bridge, Australia
Aurecon is designing an arch bridge to replace the existing road bridge that improves safety and reliability for freight, tourists, and commuters at Kilmany, Victoria.
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The Victorian Government is generating economic recovery and growth after the COVID-19 pandemic with major road projects around metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria that reduce congestion and travel times, improve safety, and connect communities.
Aurecon is currently contributing to the Princes Highway East – Kilmany upgrade project with its roads and bridge engineering design, sustainability and digital engineering services.
Duplication of the carriageway will create a safer and more reliable journey for approximately 15,000 motorists who use the road each day travelling between Traralgon and Sale in Victoria, Australia.
The design also provides safe local and private access to the highway, including a dedicated local service road with access to the township of Kilmany.
Aurecon is using digital engineering tools to create a 3D model of the complete functional and physical engineering characteristics of the project. This defines the project information on design and construction and provides a legacy digital model for the road operator to use during operations and maintenance.
Aurecon’s digital approach follows the new design standards ISO 19650-1 and ISO 19650-2, in the internationally-recognised BSI KitemarkTM certification. Aurecon was one of the first organisations globally to be certified to use the standards.
The Princes Highway is a key connection to several tourist destinations in Gippsland, including the snowfields and Gippsland Lakes. Upgrading the highway will make road travel along this route safer for holidaymakers as well as supporting the region's tourism industry to recover after the pandemic.
Construction will include strengthening of the existing highway, installing safety barriers, U-turn opportunities and upgrading three intersections including turn lanes.
The works consist of approximately five-kilometres of road duplication from a two lane road to four lane divided carriageway, and a new grade separated crossing for the Melbourne to Bairnsdale Railway line.
To overcome design, procurement and construction challenges, Aurecon is working closely with contractor, Laing O’Rourke, to design the rail interface to meet the stakeholder requirements of increased design speed, ease of operation and maintenance, together with safety and accessibility for rail passengers.
Aurecon has also designed the new Kilmany rail bridge over the highway, Victoria’s first network arch bridge for road or rail transport. By designing a single-span, steel network arch bridge, it is able to span the required 94.5 metre distance with no central supporting pier, in order to maintain clear line of sight for drivers on the highway.
The unique bridge form elegantly distributes compression through its entire form and diverts weight onto its two abutments, providing higher levels of resistance and strength. It is efficient and light, with inclined hangers that intersect at least twice, as well as highly repetitive details that lead to significant materials savings of steel and concrete.
The design challenges on this project are benefitting from digital engineering tools as the BSI KitemarkTM certification framework uses technology to support both project and asset information management processes.
Developing the 3D model identifies any potential risks or issues that can be resolved during the design phase before construction on site beings. It also creates a digital prototype of the highway, and rail interface, before it is built which provides certainty in design. This enables the consolidation of information relating to the design, simulation, project management and construction functionality.
All stakeholders – designers, contractors and suppliers – can access the latest update of the project in 3D, allowing for faster decision-making between all participants collaborating on the project.
The digital 3D model will be one of the legacies that Aurecon delivers for this project as it can provide asset data and information that the road operator can use to support and strengthen its operations and maintenance beyond the design and construction contract.
Aurecon is designing an arch bridge to replace the existing road bridge that improves safety and reliability for freight, tourists, and commuters at Kilmany, Victoria.
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