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Customer: VicRoads Contract type: Construct only Location: Geelong, Victoria   |
Fast Facts
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We successfully delivered the Breakwater Road Realignment project in Geelong, overcoming challenging ground conditions and saving our customer money by rethinking the construction approach.
Breakwater Road is an essential crossing of the Barwon River, carrying around 20,000 vehicles each day. The existing bridge was in a flood plain and when it rained heavily it was closed down, forcing traffic through the centre of Geelong and causing delays for drivers. There was also a height restriction with the exiting intersection which meant trucks bigger than 3.7 m couldn't fit under the Melbourne-Warrnambool rail bridge.
Our scope of work included:
- Realignment of approximately 1.1 km of Breakwater Rd, including a 654 m x 14 m wide bridge; including one span over railway tracks and a 60 m span over the Barwon River
- Box culvert crossing
- Reinforced Earth walls
- Tie-in roadworks at each end
- Lighting & Traffic Signals.
Innovations & Savings
Despite it being a construct only contract, we recognised the geotechical challenges the flood prone area would present. So the company undertook a full cost-benefit analysis of all potential ground improvement options during the tender, to mitigate potential risks and find possible cost savings.
Based on this analysis we offered an alternative solution based on CMC (Controlled Modulus Columns), the original tender design was for CSM (Cutter Soil Mixture). This provided the most effective solution for the given conditions.
Savings of over $100,000 were achieved, compared with the original design approach, as was a time savings of 57 days (compared with the original tender program using CSM, which would have taken 97 days).
Completed on time and within budget, the new bridge was built 12 metres higher than the existing bridge, meaning Breakwater Road will now be able to withstand a one in 20 year flood as well as allow for bigger trucks, reducing the number of trucks going through Geelong.
