We’re not stopping

from Roads & Infrastructure May 2020

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“We’re not stopping,” says Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.

MAKING ROADS ALL THEY CAN BE

ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE CAUGHT UP WITH FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTER MICHAEL MCCORMACK TO DISCUSS THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE TO INFRASTRUCTURE DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS. W hile no industry sector is immune from facing some kind of COVID-19 impact, some industries are hurting more than others.

The road construction sector conversely, while undoubtedly facing challenges, is charging on with critical nation-building infrastructure projects. For example, Cross River Rail, the largest infrastructure project in Queensland’s history, continues, with April seeing the announcement of a new priority. One of Victoria’s most congested level crossings in Toorak was also removed in April, with the Victorian Premier proclaiming that work looks a little different on the big build, with extra physical distancing precautions in place to protect workers from coronavirus.

Over in South Australia, the government is fast-tracking $120 million in infrastructure projects as part of its $1 billion economic stimulus package. Although the future remains somewhat uncertain, the message of governments is one of resilience.

The discussion of continued projects was symbolically expressed through the finalisation of the Pacific Highway duplication between Woolgooga and Construction crews lay asphalt on the Pacific Highway. Credit: NSW Government.

Ballina, which is on track for completion at the end of 2020. This comprises an additional 12-kilometre section between Tyndale and Maclean. The new section of four-lane divided highway supports more than 75 kilometres of completed highway delivered through the project.

In an exclusive interview with Roads & Infrastructure, Federal Government Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack in early April shared his enthusiasm to see much-needed projects continue as normal, highlighting the government’s commitment to its existing 10-year pipeline.

The Federal Government’s Infrastructure Investment Program will see $100 billion flow to major projects over 10 years from 2019-20. Through its continued initiatives, the government is supporting critical road projects like the Pacific Highway and Western Sydney Airport in NSW, Bruce Highway in QLD, METRONET in Perth and Monash Freeway in Melbourne.

“We’re not stopping. I’ve had discussions generally twice a week every week since the start of March with transport and infrastructure ministers from throughout Australia,” Mr. McCormack explains.

He adds that ministers have been talking about bringing projects forward and what can be done to help the transport infrastructure sector get through the crisis.

When announcing the final steps on the Pacific Highway duplication between Woolgoolga and Ballina, Mr. McCormack highlighted how important investments like this were to regional economies during this difficult time. Speaking to Roads & Infrastructure, he says the safety benefit is huge.

“When the Pacific Highway is complete from Hexham to the Queensland border, that’s a saving of two and a half hours effectively of what the Pacific Highway once was,” he says.

He points to the Parkes to Narromine section of Inland Rail as an example of making a difference in the community, creating hundreds of jobs with businesses built in and around it. The section is one of 12 projects for Inland Rail, with works completed on a 5.3 kilometre of new rail near Parkes to link Inland Rail with the existing Broken Hill rail line to Perth.

Spanning more than 1700 kilometres, Inland Rail aims to provide a transit time of

Once complete, Mr. McCormack says motorists will save two and a half hours driving along the Pacific Highway. Credit: NSW Government.

“IT’S CRITICAL THAT THE SUPPLY CHAIN, LOGISTICS, CONSTRUCTION, THAT EVERYTHING TO DO WITH INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSPORT AND INDEED REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT…ARE ALL THAT THEY CAN BE AT THIS TIME.”

24 hours or less for freight trains between Melbourne and Brisbane via regional Victoria, NSW and QLD. An Inland Rail Regional Opportunities Report produced by Ernst & Young found the total project will see a boost of up to $13.3 billion in gross regional product.

Mr. McCormack says that with borders closed to a large degree and international routes shut off, it’s important to get food, fuel and medical equipment moving across the country.

“It’s critical that the supply chain, logistics, construction [and] everything to do with infrastructure transport and indeed regional development…are all that they can be at this time,” he says.

He adds that in one sense supply chains are freed up as there are not as many people on the road during this time.

In keeping the supply chain ticking along, he says that construction companies are also quite forthright in adhering to social distancing and safety – a commendable effort.

“That’s one advantage of the construction industry, sometimes those workers and builders are not as such in close quarters with their colleagues,” he says.

The COVID-19 lockdown has led to a discussion, with a range of variances at a state and territory level, on what services are “essential” versus non-essential. The Australian Asphalt Pavement Association recently confirmed – through discussions with government bodies across the nation – that roads and associated roadworks are essential services. CEO Carlos Rial recently said he had been in talks with government bodies from across Australia and all have confirmed roads and associated roadworks are an essential service.

“Under many of the Essential Services Acts across the country it can be interpreted that roads and associated roadworks activities support the essential functions needed during emergent conditions,” he said.

Because jurisdictions will vary as to what as essential service means legally, on questions of whether there should be an amendment to any of the acts, Mr. McCormack says it comes down to “common sense”. He says that with parliaments largely in recess, it might be something for a future Council of Australian Governments to look at.

In its response to COVID-19, the Federal Government progressively rolled out three packages – its initial $17.6 billion stage one package, $66 billion stage two and $130 billion JobKeeper support package. Stage one included changes to the instant asset write-off from $30,000 to $150,000 which

Spanning more than 1700 kilometres, Inland Rail aims to provide transit times of 24 hours or less for freight trains between Melbourne and Brisbane.

supports road construction purchases, with a multitude of other benefits across the three packages relevant to a variety of businesses.

On questions of whether Mr. McCormack would rule out a stage-four related infrastructure package, he says he doesn’t “rule anything in our out”.

He adds that COVID-19 has caused uncertainty and it remains to be seen how bad it will be for the health of the nation and economy, pointing out that the government has tried to slow and contain the virus as best as it can.

“We can take advice from the chief medical officer Dr Brendan Murphy and others as to what the likely outcomes might be of COVID-19 on the workforce and construction transport industry,” he says.

“If a number of their workers go down with the virus and have to either be hospitalised or self-isolate or indeed be quarantined that’s an issue.”

Likewise, on questions as to whether the current level of debt would affect future infrastructure funding, namely in the October budget, he says no one could put a figure on it, not even the most “learned treasury official”.

That said, he says he wrote to all local governments across Australia highlighting that he wanted to see them bring any maintenance projects they could forward.

While COVID-19 has dramatically changed our expectations for 2020, the issue has been overshadowed by what were some of Australia’s worst bushfires earlier this year. Mr. McCormack highlights the government’s focus in this area, pointing to its Bridges Renewal Program, which opened proposals for another round earlier this year.

“Certainly infrastructure and inland rail is going to of course be a project that will continue to roll out. I’m very excited about the projects it will do, with goods to be carted between Melbourne and Sydney in less than 24 hours for the first time in more than a 100 years.”

With project overruns a continued issue, it remains to be seen what impact COVID-19 will have on existing timelines.

When asked whether he would encourage project proponents experiencing financial stress to provide some kind of guarantee, Mr. McCormack says he would encourage them to “sing out” well before it comes a major issue. He points out that project participants do their best not to have overruns but sometimes face issues such as weather.

Importantly, Mr. McCormack says there are a range of vital projects being explored, including the Outback Way linking QLD to WA and, Wheatbuilt road projects in WA and secondary freight upgrades.

Additionally, the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative continues to ensure key freight roads are efficiently connected to industrial hubs.

He comments that other projects such as Western Sydney Airport will generate thousands of indirect and direct jobs and is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the nation.

As far as future transport technologies goes, he says that organisations are working harder than ever despite disruptions to their working life, with many now working from home.

“I don’t wish or think at any stage we need to see a slowdown in our construction and infrastructure roll-out,” Mr. McCormack says.

“That said, it’s very early April 2 [at the time of interview]. This COVID-19 [situation] will potentially go for six months, we’re one month into that. I know all our planning and preparation has been for a six-month phase, hopefully it will be a lot shorter than that but at this stage who can tell.”

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An alternative route for Echuca Moama Bridge has been discussed for decades.

BRIDGING THE STATE GAP

AS ONE OF THE LARGEST TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN NORTHERN VICTORIA, THE $323.7 MILLION ECHUCA MOAMA BRIDGE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE A SECOND LINK BETWEEN RURAL NSW AND VICTORIA, REDUCING CONGESTION AND IMPROVING RELIABILITY OF EMERGENCY SERVICES.

Most construction projects have one set of state-based building specifications to adhere to, but when working across borders, the lines can be blurred.

Each state in Australia has unique construction regulations and when the time came to create a new crossing between Victoria and NSW, construction teams were faced with two different standards.

As one of the busiest border crossings in the country it was identified in the 60’s that an alternative route was needed for the Echuca Moama Bridge, built in 1878 and now over 100 years old.

Now, each day 25,000 vehicles use the river crossing between Echuca in Victoria and Moama in NSW. With the main link between the two states reliant on a 100-year-old bridge, authorities decided it was time for an upgrade. The $323.7 million Echuca-Moama Bridge project was conceptualised to create a new, alternative crossing over the Murray and Campaspe Rivers.

Construction began in 2017 and the project has been split into four stages. Stage Three is managed by Major Road Projects Victoria and Stage Four by Transport for NSW.

Eric Shegog, Program Director Delivery and Continuous Improvement at Major Road Projects Victoria says communication has been key for a successful project that meets standards on both sides of the border.

“At one stage we were going to build the project with two different specifications, but we decided to go with one standard. You have to build trust in the team and get a good collaborative approach,” Mr. Shegog says.

A memorandum of understanding was created to help the two parties manage their collaborative approach and understand that while there were two different jurisdictions, both of the systems and processes were designed around a joint goal.

Once the plan was hatched, the team turned to construction. Stage One and Two of the project involved preparing existing roads to feed into the new crossing.

Stage One was the Murray Valley Highway and Warren Street intersection upgrade, which was completed in June 2018. This involved the creation of a new roundabout in Echuca, which removed “Y” shaped intersections that the community had long voiced safety concerns over.

Warren Street also required an upgrade, and this formed Stage Two of the project. Four new flood bridges were constructed along with a new roundabout at the Campaspe Esplanade, an extended righthand turning lane into Homan Street, a new residential service road and a shared path.

The Warren Street upgrade was completed in November 2019 and now Major Road Projects Victoria is looking towards its last and biggest stage of the project – Stage Three.

This will see the construction of the two main bridges over the Murray and Campaspe rivers. Additionally, a new twolane road with sealed shoulders north of the new roundabout on Warren Street in Echuca will connect to the Cobb Highway in Moama .

Two new flood relief bridges will be built in Stage Three alongside safety barriers, noise walls and a new safe and scenic shared walking and cycling path along the route and over the new bridges.

McConnell Dowell is the principal contractor for Stage Three and in late February the team were already doing early environmental works and setting up the site compound. Major works are planned to start this month.

The existing route delivers all of the

crossing traffic through Echuca town centre. The extra crossing will help to divert heavy vehicles out of the town centre, reducing growing congestion.

“The new bridges will take 40 per cent of traffic off the existing bridge and a significant proportion of that will be heavy and oversized vehicles,” Mr. Shegog says.

It will also give another option to emergency services travelling in between towns, increasing their reliability.

Mr. Shegog says the closest crossing to the current bridge is over 100 kilometres away so there is a significant difference in response times for emergency vehicles. He says this means there is a huge safety benefit, with access for emergency services in case there is traffic congestion on the existing bridge.

Stage Four involves upgrading Moama intersections to connect the Cobb Highway and the new Murray River bridge. Construction of this stage began in early 2020 and is expected to take 18 months to complete.

To create the second crossing of the Murray River, a bridge with a 115-metre span will need to be constructed. Mr. Shegog says the team have chosen a balanced cantilever box girder bridge which will be cast on site.

“The Murray River Bridge will sit high in the air (about 15 metres high at the bank) and span 115 metres across the river, so the normal way of building bridges doesn’t quite suit those requirements. We had to

The Echuca Moama Bridge Project includes several stages, with the bridge crossing expected to open in 2022.

choose between a balanced cantilever or an incrementally launched bridge and this was the one we decided on,” he says.

For the Murray River Crossing, the contractor decided that the piers were to be pulled back off the bank and out of the water. The bridge also needed to be of significant height to allow river boats and paddle steamers to travel underneath.

For this reason, a balanced cantilever box girder bridge was well suited to the project’s requirements. This is cast on-site and constructed by travelling forms from either bank, so the bridge grows progressively across the river and meets in the middle.

“The Campaspe River crossing and the flood relief bridges will all be constructed using precast concrete super-T girders. The super-T design is a standard, very well practiced and efficient design,” Mr. Shegog says.

When planning the six flood relief bridges on the project, the team did extensive flood modelling to ensure the new alignment did not increase flooding risk in surrounding areas.

“The flood relief structures are based around making sure there are enough waterway openings, to guarantee a flood could behave no worse. We have done a lot of work with the councils in the area to fine tune flooding impacts,” Mr. Shegog says.

The Victorian Government’s Social Procurement Framework has lead to a focus on sustainability.

Mr. Shegog says in Stage Two, the

contractor Winslow, had all of their precast beams constructed in the local Humes factory,”

Stage Two also saw around 95 percent of the timber cut down, provided to catchment management authorities for their river aquatic works to enhance fish and river health.

“We have a plan in place for any timber we might want to remove on the project to be reused. The Port of Echuca has taken delivery of long lengths of timber to restore their wharves and the Kyabram Fauna Park has used timber to improve its habitats for native creatures,” Mr. Shegog says.

As the project is situated over two state borders it had to obtain two environmental approvals, the Environmental Effects Statement in Victoria and a Review of Environmental Factors in NSW.

“Through that process we commissioned a detailed tree mapping study and developed a vegetation database. We also developed a comprehensive understanding of what flora and fauna were across the site. From there we worked up plans to protect and care for those species,” Mr. Shegog says.

The Victorian Temperate Woodland Bird Community and squirrel gliders are the main species in need of protection on the project.

To increase liveability for the surrounding communities, shared paths for pedestrians and cyclists will be a significant addition to the project.

“We’ve already built two kilometres of shared path on Warren Street and we will be joining that up right through Victoria Park and onto the NSW side,” Mr. Shegog says.

WHAT’S NEXT? Once major construction has begun on Stage Three, the Echuca-Moama bridge crossing is expected to be open in 2022.

Over the next two years crews will work hard across both sides of the border to deliver the project on time.

“So far we have delivered two stages with an impeccable safety record with no recordable injuries and no lost time injuries. Stage Two was also finished a month early. We have set a high benchmark for the team and will endeavour to maintain similar behaviour for Stage Three, right through until completion,” Mr. Shegog says.