CHARGING AHEAD
WITH THE M1 EIGHT MILE PLAINS TO DAISY HILL IS ONE PART OF THE M1 PACIFIC MOTORWAY WORKS. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS SOUTH COAST DEPUTY REGIONAL DIRECTOR, ANDREW WHEELER, EXPLAINS HOW THE PROJECT IS COMING TOGETHER.
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s one of Australia’s busiest roads, upgrades and widening works are being undertaken on the Pacific Motorway all the way from New South Wales right into Brisbane. The future of the M1 looks bright with Federal and State projects including the $1 billion Varsity Lakes to Tugun and the $750 million Eight Mile Plans to Daisy Hill upgrades kicking off this year. This funding came on top of the projects already agreed with the Federal Government including the recently completed $218.5 million Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes and the $195.3 million M1-M3 Gateway Merge upgrades. Following extensive planning Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill, the second step in the upgrade between the Gateway and Logan, has progressed from a business case to the start of construction. With an expected completion date of late 2024, Andrew Wheeler, Department of Transport and Main Roads South Coast Deputy Regional Director, explains the 16
ROADS JULY 2020
intricacies of the Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill project and wider M1 works. The M1 works are split into sections, all being delivered separately. The M1 program team also decided to further divide these sections with individual packages to make up each section of work. The eight-kilometre Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill section will be upgraded in four different packages. The first will cover the section from Sports Drive to Gateway Motorway and package two is an early works package for the upgrade of the old Pacific Highway. Package three will see upgrades from Watland Street to Sports Drive, and the final package will build the new Rochdale Bus Station park and ride section and a dedicated busway alignment. “Unlike other major infrastructure projects, that can be made up of one large design and construct package, we have broken it up into four packages,” Mr. Wheeler says. The focus for Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill in 2020 will be the first two packages.
Construction has already begun on package one and construction will start shortly on the Pacific Highway early works package. Both are scheduled to be complete by late 2021. Completion of the first two packages will lay the foundation for packages three and four, which are scheduled to commence in 2021 and 2023 respectivley and be completed by the middle to end of 2024. “Package one for us is a large project but it sets up the remainder of the project there. Being in an urban environment, we have to get package one and two completed so we can seamlessly roll into projects further south and the busway,” Mr. Wheeler says. Construction in a brownfield environment is one of the project’s major challenges Mr. Wheeler highlights. “We have the issue of well over 150,000 vehicles on average daily. So, trying to upgrade a motorway alignment within that corridor, with urban environments on either side, is quite challenging,” he says. This was one of the reasons the project
