9 minute read
INNOVATION NOMINEES
MAROOCHY GROYNE PROJECT
Sunshine Coast Council
Sunshine Coast Council’s $2 million Maroochy Groyne Renewal Project (Stage 1) renewed two groyne structures and the seawall surrounding the Cotton Tree Holiday Park at Maroochydore. Driven by failing assets the project was the result of extensive planning by Sunshine Coast Council, including a 10-year Shoreline Erosion Management Plan (SEMP) developed in 2014. The project was required to protect the iconic park and other valuable assets in the surrounding Cotton Tree precinct (including recreation areas, businesses, accommodation and residential properties) from erosion, and was an Australian first for using 9 tonne geotextile bags. Over 2,000 sand-filled geotextile containers were used. Facing significant community and political interest in groyne replacement options, the project involved extensive community consultation including establishment of a community reference group (the Maroochy River Estuary Consultation Group) which continued to work with Council after the initial consultation period on design options and testing, and wider community engagement. The project was delivered by a cross organisational team, with continuity of involvement for each project phase drawing on project management and coastal engineering expertise throughout. It employed a design which was informed by comprehensive research and physical modelling of different design structures and onsite testing, undertaken with industry specialists at the Water Research Laboratory at the University of New South Wales. This research, combined with coastal engineering principles and a sound understanding of the Maroochy River’s natural migration processes, delivered a successful project and infrastructure that will serve the community for decades to come.
FREIGHT PRIORITY SYSTEM
City of Gold Coast
This is the first time intersection signal priority based on vehicle mass has been implemented in Queensland. The excellent outcomes attributed to this project are due to the innovative application of proven technology and systems to develop a unique solution in response to a common problem. The project driver was an ongoing maintenance issue caused by heavy vehicles stopping at a signalised intersection with a downward gradient, causing rutting and pavement damage. The freight priority system allows vehicles greater than 45 tonnes to be detected upstream and given priority (green signal) through the intersection thereby reducing the number of times heavy vehicles need to stop in response to a red signal. Cost savings associated with reduced maintenance and road rehabilitation are a benefit for the City and the community. The project also offers numerous secondary benefits which have been evaluated over the initial 12 month period of operation. The benefits that can be attributed to this initiative include: • Reduced costs associated with pavement asset management and renewal • Increased operational efficiencies for the freight industry • Improved safety on the road network • Environmental improvements through reduced vehicle emissions • Improved operational efficiency of the road network • Improved data collection
PALM BEACH FOAMED ASPHALT TRIAL - QLD FIRST
City of Gold Coast and Stabilised Pavements Australia
Foamed Asphalt is the newest innovation in pavement recycling technology in Australia, taking a back-to-basics approach by maximising the recycling potential of existing road materials. Foamed Asphalt combines traditional foamed bitumen pavement rejuvenation treatment with a single-pass, paver-laid operation, similar to conventional asphalt. All operations occur in just one pass of the construction train. Although Foamed Asphalt is being successfully used overseas throughout Europe, UK and USA, the machinery and technology to undertake this process was first introduced into the Australian market in early 2020 by Stabilised Pavements of Australia (SPA). The revolutionary initiative was seen as having such significance that SPA set up a subsidiary division solely dedicated to the process – Pavement Recyclers. The City of Gold Coast partnered with Pavement Recyclers to deliver the first Foamed Asphalt Paver Laid Recycling project undertaken in Queensland in June 2020. This iconic project in Palm Beach showcased a design and construction contract that delivered approximately 3.6 lane km of Foamed Asphalt across two residential roads in lieu of a deep lift asphalt alternative. It was also the first project in Australia to utilise this construction methodology to recycle previously cement stabilised pavement materials. Consequently, the City of Gold Coast was able to attain a fully recycled pavement in a highly urbanised environment that was executed safely and quickly, at a fraction of the cost of an equivalent deep lift asphalt design.
Bundaberg Regional Council | AECOM
Historically, the Bundaberg region has been developed on top of very low-lying overland flow paths without formal drainage infrastructure. This has led to significant community exposure to rainfall run-off in urban areas where surface water exceeds the capacity of the street gutters and creates ongoing nuisance to property owners. Bundaberg Regional Council currently owns and manages over $300 million worth of stormwater assets to provide local protections against rainfall run-off across the region. Recent decades have seen significant growth in Council’s assets which accentuates the need to proactively plan and manage infrastructure in a sustainable, adaptable manner. The asset management responsibility is complicated by increasing demand from the community to provide higher levels of service, changing risk environments and funding constraints. Council’s management of stormwater infrastructure has led to highly reactive investment, financially unsustainable outcomes, and no clear direction for the medium to long term. To break out of this unsustainable cycle, Council engaged in a collaborative partnership with AECOM to create an overarching Stormwater Management Strategy (the Strategy). The Strategy provides an essential framework for best practice asset management that caters for future growth, while maintaining and improving existing stormwater infrastructure. Furthermore, the Strategy defines a clear level of service for the community that employs risk-based decision making to inform long-term investment. It brings a holistic vision for stormwater management in the region by increasing awareness and education within the community, capturing social and environmental values, and identifying critical infrastructure needs..
KINGSFORD SMITH DRIVE UPGRADE
Brisbane City Council
Kingsford Smith Drive (KSD) is one of Brisbane’s busiest roads, serving as a gateway between the CBD and Brisbane Airport, Northshore Hamilton, Australia TradeCoast and Gateway Motorway. The KSD upgrade involved widening the existing road from four to six lanes between Theodore Street, Eagle Farm and Cooksley Street, Hamilton. The KSD upgrade is much more than just a road project - it has transformed one of the city’s most significant and historically rich routes into a vibrant urban corridor with the Brisbane River as the centrepiece. This critical upgrade has reduced traffic congestion along the corridor and improved local amenity and access for all road users, including cyclists, pedestrians and public transport users. A key feature of the upgrade is the subtropical treeline boulevard which creates a new entry statement to the city. Key features of the upgrade progressively opened to the community, include: • More than 1.3 million pedestrians and cyclists have now used the 1.2km riverside Lores Bonney
Riverwalk. • remodelled Cameron Rocks Reserve with the WW1 war memorial as its centrepiece (opened April 2019) • new Bretts Wharf plaza (opened November 2019) • •new Recreation Hub – public pontoon with various freeboard heights to suit different sized vessels (opened March 2020) • six lane median-divided roadway.
National Heavy Vehicle Regulator
The Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project (SLGAAP) started in late 2019, when the Australian Government provided the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) with $7.96 million in grant funding over two years to assist local government road managers across Australia to undertake heavy vehicle assessments of on-road assets, such as bridges and culverts. While asset assessments have been undertaken for many years across the nation and an Australian Standard for bridge assessment (AS 5100) exists, there is no national and consistent methodology for practically applying it. The SLGAAP sought to establish a standardised approach to the application of bridge and culvert assessments, developing an Asset Assessment Framework and practical resources in a Road Manager Toolkit. The Project has successfully delivered more than 300 assessments of local government-owned bridge and culverts, nationally over 74 local government areas and has captured key data for more than 1000 assets in a centralised database. Before introducing the SLGAAP, there was no central database of local government assets, with each council area holding varying levels of asset information. Additionally, operators requiring heavy vehicle access along a route may be restricted due to unknown asset capacity. This Project relied on providing engineering assessments to support improved productivity and evidence-based access decision making, benefiting local government road managers and transport operators.
THE AI ENABLED STORMWATER INSPECTION SYSTEM
Moreton Bay Regional Council
Efficient and effective management of stormwater infrastructure assets represent a multimillion dollar investment involving a collaboration of human and technology resources, timely and quality data, and suitable plant and equipment. Through the use of the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, image processing and the cloud, Moreton Bay Regional Council has successfully implemented a fully integrated region-wide stormwater inspection system that will reduce the pipe network inspection time by almost seven times with a 36% cost saving. This sophisticated inspection system leverages an artificial intelligence trained image detection model to identify structural and service defects in stormwater pipes using camera zoom technology. The data is then automatically transferred into the enterprise asset management system where the defects are prioritised for renewal and maintenance works. To continue with traditional CCTV methods would take a further 40 years to complete the stormwater network survey whereas this new initiative will reduce the network inspection to only 6 years. Timely, high quality data is an important asset to a local government authority where its core business is about quality service provision and the delivery of quality infrastructure. An increase in timely and quality asset data is better informing Council planning, maintenance and renewal programs and asset lifecycle decisions across the 2800km stormwater pipe network valued at $1.6 billion, offering Council an improved asset performance knowledge base that services the community across the Moreton Bay region.
THARGOMINDAH WATER COOLING PROJECT
Bulloo Shire Council, Peak Services, NRG Services
Bulloo Shire Council (Council) has made significant investment in solar energy installations and the new Thargomindah Water Cooling System (Project). The Project delivers long-term financial and social benefits while reducing risk to Council and the community, continuing their ‘green’ council legacy. Conceived by Council in consultation with Peak Services, and with a 60% funding boost from the Department of Local Government Racing and Multicultural Affairs, the Project was made possible. Council had a challenge like many remote councils; reliance on water supply from bores. Whilst the water quality is potable, without treatment the temperature exceeds acceptable level. The water temperature also degrades existing water supply and reticulation infrastructure. The Project uses reliable technology in an innovative way, without compromising on maintenance and operational ease. Bore water is cooled via plate heat exchangers that are coupled with cooling towers bringing water temperature down from 72 to 35 degrees Celsius. Water is stored in 1.5ML storage tanks and pumped on demand to meet town water supply needs. The bore water is kept separate from the cooling process so that water quality standards cannot be compromised. A final stage UV filter assists to ensure that the water delivered to households meets required quality standards. Using the power of the sun to reduce water temperature seems like an unlikely partnership, but the new solar-powered water-cooling towers have successfully reduced the potable bore water temperature to a cool drinkable level and reduces the degradation of existing water supply and reticulation infrastructure.
