13 minute read
Engineering the Tropics
ENGINEERING IN THE TROPICS
MICHAEL KERR MAYOR OF DOUGLAS
Tropical wet season deluges that throw debris and hills of mud onto our roads is an annual fixture in our little slice of paradise. Douglas Shire – famous for being where the Daintree Rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef – has a knack for presenting a unique set of engineering challenges for council staff.
Since 2017, our talented engineers have managed almost $30 million worth of disaster recovery projects consisting of significant landslips, road improvements and bank stabilisations. And I can assure you, these severe weather events do not discriminate.
From our tourist town of Port Douglas, to the rural sugarcane growing areas surrounding Mossman, to the untouched World-Heritage rainforest north of the Daintree River – monsoonal rainfall has certainly left its mark on our region in the past few years.
In 2018, Murphy Street in Port Douglas, also known as ‘Millionaires Row’, suffered three significant landslips during a torrential downpour which dropped almost 600mm in one night, resulting in the removal of more than 1500 cubic metres of debris from the street.
Immediate clearing works and temporary stabilisation of the hillslope were required before geotechnical engineers could finalise a long-term solution. Fast forward to 2021, our council crews and contractors have completed a fantastic $3.1 million repair job at the site, successfully capping off two years of road repairs, drainage improvements and slope stabilisation. The project was jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Queensland Governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
I know the community has been blown away by the professionalism and quality shown by crews. The project was no easy feat. Hundreds of soil nails were drilled into the hill slope, followed by mesh covering which became the target of a specialised cannon shooting seeds and growth mixture to revegetate the hill slope. We also planted more than 200 plants on the street to beautify the area – an important part of the process for our tourist town.
The work completed here is nothing short of tremendous and gave our community a great deal of confidence heading into the 2020/21 La Nina wet season. What was even more impressive, it was just one of many significant repairs our small Council team has completed in recent years. The repair of a 60-metre high landslip in the Upper Daintree region and the re-building of a large section of road that fell away on the Alexandra Range in the heart of the Daintree Rainforest were among other key disaster recovery projects completed.
Our Council staff are now embarking on $10 million drainage and pavement upgrades to remote unsealed roads north of Cape Tribulation, up to areas around Wujal Wujal. Sections of the road are vulnerable to seasonal flooding and can leave our northern communities isolated. Not to mention our adventure-seeking tourists can get stuck.
With a resident population of just over 12,000 people, Douglas Shire Council draws on a relatively small rate base and minimal alternative revenue streams to maintain infrastructure for our
View of Port Douglas taken from the Coral Sea off the coast of Rex Smeal Park.
MURPHY ST BRIEF
Native seedlings were added to three large landslips on Murphy Street, Port Douglas in a bid to revegetate the repaired hill slopes. (Pictures below.)
Douglas Shire Council completed the $3.1 Million repairs on the street, which required more than 1500 cubic metres of debris to be removed after a torrential downpour March 2018.
Emergency works returned the area to a reasonable level of service within four weeks.
Council secured disaster recovery funding, which covers “like for like” and contributed further funding to improve the streetscape to the normal urban standards with the installation of kerb and guttering.
The project is jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Queensland Governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
Progress shot of the $3.1 million Murphy Street Landslip repairs when soil nails were being drilled into the hillslope.
More than 1500 cubic metres of mud and debris needed to be removed from Murphy St in Port Douglas after a heavy rainfall event.
Native seedlings were added to three large landslips on Murphy Street in a bid to re-vegetate the repaired hillslopes.
busy tourist destination. Almost 60% of our residents live in the two main population centres of Port Douglas and Mossman. Port Douglas is the tourist gateway to the region, while Mossman is the administrative, health, industrial and agricultural hub. Other urban centres include the beachside communities of Wonga Beach, Newell Beach and Cooya Beach. The remaining residents live in small, decentralised communities scattered along the 100km stretch of coast road; tucked into the rainforest or in small rural townships in the Shire’s hinterland valleys.
The economy of the Shire depends mainly on tourism. More than 400,000 people visit the region annually to explore the World Heritage Listed Wet Tropics Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef. Visitation generally peaks from June to September, outside of our annual cyclone season, creating a dynamic and challenging environment for our 150-plus council workforce.
And there is no doubt about it – our outdoor workers punch well above their weight.
When it comes to managing infrastructure, being a popular tourism destination isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. For example, Port Douglas has a population of about 3500, which more than doubles during peak tourist season. This leads to added pressure on our road network, water supply and is a premium expectation of how our public spaces are presented.
Council contractors spraying concrete to stabilise the hillslope and rebuild the damaged road on the Alexandra Range, north of the Daintree River, in 2019.
Council contractors installed 150 gabions on top of the repaired hillslope to rebuild the section of the Alexandra Range which collapsed during a monsoon event in early 2019.
The Alexandra Range repairs were completed mid-2019. Civil works crews were required to suspend normal duties for eight weeks to mitigate the impact of the disaster events. A section of road on the Alexandra Range which washed away in early 2019.
Despite living in one of the country’s wettest parts, we have a particularly challenging set of circumstances when it comes to managing our water supply and demand. This is predominantly due to the large tourist population, as well as the high number of resorts and swimming pools in Port Douglas.
With no dams or significant water storage facilities, besides a few reservoirs, this poses a unique challenge to managing a water supply that is sourced from naturally flowing creeks in the pristine rainforest.
Throughout Queensland, drought conditions and water stress are becoming increasingly frequent and more severe. In Douglas, this is exacerbated by the challenge of explaining to the public why we need to conserve water in the tropics. It is why Council staff are investigating the feasibility of a 1Gl water storage site and working towards gaining approval for a second water extraction point in the MossmanPort Douglas network.
But it is not just Douglas. The wider FNQ region is susceptible to seasonal over and under water supply. Councils across the region have identified new and
A 60m-high landslip near Daintree Village was among a swag of severe weather-related repairs for Douglas Shire Council in 2019.
enlarged dams as a key strategic goal, bringing potential to tap into benefits of hydroelectric power, tourism, and lifestyle opportunities.
In the face of real regional challenges, many of us see the unbridled potential to become a thriving economic force. Last year, I was elected to the position of Chairman of the Far North Queensland Regional Organisations of Councils (FNQROC) – an advocacy group spanning 13 councils from Hinchinbrook, north to Cooktown and west to Carpentaria. This area covers 1,235 km of the eastern seaboard with a land area of 316,663 sq km and has a population of approximately 276,700. The group represents the largest and fastest-growing region in Northern Australia. Gross regional product is $16.33 Billion (NEIR2019).
In this role, I hope to steer the broader region into an era of sustainable economic growth and development. I may be a little biased, I see Douglas Shire as a key player in our bid to propel FNQ forward in the postCOVID era.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr and was elected to the mayoral position for the first time in 2020.
Originally from Victoria, he has lived in the region since 2002 and previously served as a Councillor from 2016.
Mayor Kerr was recently elected to Chair of the Far North Queensland Organisation of Councils which represents 13 local Councils in the Far North.
JANUARY 2021 Coastal Engineering
ENGINEERS PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT
City of Gold Coast Palm Beach Shoreline Project
Professional Development
Coastal Engineering (103 minutes)
Topic
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Public buildings for post disaster function - structural engineering design experience Speaker
• Dan Toon
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New content in the new Coastal Engineering Community:
Type
Audio Visual Recording
Paper
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2020 Palm Beach Shoreline Project
2021 Scenic Highway Reconstruction Project - Statue Bay
2021 PW TV, Coastal Engineering
Technical Paper 2021 Coastal protection jetty with geotextile tubes core and artificial beach creation in Tocopilla, Chile
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Paul Prenzler, Coordinator Beaches, City of Gold Coast and Giovanni Rapana, Senior Project Manager, Transport and Infrastructure
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Recording available in the Knowledge Centre.
Paul Prenzler Giovanni Rapana
Media
Industry Queensland The reconstruction of the Scenic Highway at Statue Bay in the Livingstone Shire is among the works in the spotlight in what professional body the IPWEAQ has dubbed ‘coastal engineering month’.
Read more.
NEW EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR COASTAL ENGINEERING – NOMINATE TODAY!
PROJECT AWARD, Coastal Engineering
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Project Description: Summarise the project being nominated. Please note this may be used in marketing material (minimum 200 and maximum 250 words)
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• Explain how the project was developed • Were there other project options considered? • Define the project outcomes and were they achieved? Alton Twine Director Transport & Infrastructure City of Gold Coast
Winning the inaugural IPWEAQ Award for Excellence in Coastal Engineering means a great deal to the City of Gold Coast, as we are a City that has an extremely close relationship with our coastline and beaches. The City invests significantly into world-class planning, engineering and management practices around our 52km of Ocean beaches as well as our significant waterbodies, to protect and enhance our natural assets and lifestyle. Projects such as the Palm Beach Artificial Reef are significant to the City’s future, and having this recognised by IPWEAQ is enormous encouragement for our staff who work in coastal management, as well as to all those who aspire to work in this growing area of engineering.
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Nominations close 25 June 2021
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FEBRUARY 2021 Airports Engineering
Professional Development
Airports Engineering (90 minutes)
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Audio Visual Recording 2021 PWTV - Emerald Airport Resurfacing Project
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2021 February 2021 - IPWEAQ Airport Campaign
If you have project reports and learnings on airport maintenance or improvement to share with our community, please contact Johanna.Vanling@ipweaq.com
PW-TV
Dean Catterall, Area Manager at Boral Construction Materials. This PW-TV session explored the Emerald Airport Runway Upgrade Project and the decision to use Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) not previously used on an Australian runway
Dean Catterall
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Airports video
Engineer is one of the most trusted professions. Our airport’s video celebrates the role engineers play in the planning, development, expansion, and refurbishment of our airports and runways.
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City of Gold Coast | Kurrawa Seawall
Pictured: Giovanni Rapana (Beaches Team) and Ashley Rogers (Survey Services)
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