DUNCANS ROAD
GOES GREEN
WHEN GIVEN THE TASK OF MANAGING THE WESTERN ROADS UPGRADE NETWORK FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS, BROADSPECTRUM (NOW VENTIA) LOOKED AT THE POSSIBILITY OF USING INNOVATIVE RECYCLED PRODUCTS TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR PERFORMANCE, CHOOSING DUNCANS ROAD AS A SITE FOR DOWNER’S RECONOPHALT WEARING COURSE TO BE LAID.
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n 2017 the Netflow consortium won the Victorian Government’s $1.8 billion contract for the Western Roads Upgrade. The terms of the public-private partnership contract included design, build, finance and maintenance aspects which will see the consortium look after the road network for 23 years in total. The consortium comprises Plenary Group and Cintra as joint project sponsors; WBHO Infrastructure as design and construction lead; and the Amey and Broadspectrum joint venture as services contractor. (Broadspectrum was acquired by Ventia in June 2020). The Western Roads Upgrade program comprises eight priority roads upgrades, road widening works, intersection upgrades, almost 30 kilometres of road
duplication works and 260 kilometres of road rehabilitation and maintenance across Melbourne’s west for 23 years. As the service contractor to the Netflow consortium, Broadspectrum will handle the maintenance of the road network for the next two decades. Drew Morrison, Project Director at Broadspectrum says the 20-year maintenance period means the company is always looking to improve sustainability outcomes over the life of the program. Through the company’s relationship with Downer comes the opportunity to resurface roads with their product Reconophalt which contains soft plastics, glass and toner. “We will continue to resurface roads for the next 20 years across Melbourne’s
Working with Downer, Broadspectrum laid 784 tonnes of Reconophalt.
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ROADS AUGUST 2020
western arterial road network. This gives us the opportunity to trial products that have not previously been used on the network, as they incorporate materials reclaimed or developed from alternate sources and innovative products,” Mr. Morrison says. “We get the opportunity to prove that these products perform in a controlled environment, and as services provider we are able to monitor performance and then hopefully make recommendations to continue their use more widely on the arterial road network.” To make the most of this opportunity to trial a sustainable wearing course layer, Broadspectrum decided to lay 784 tonnes of Reconophalt over 960 metres on Duncans Road in Werribee South. The Reconophalt mix was placed next to a standard wearing course asphalt for Broadspectrum to easily compare its performance. Duncans Road was a full pavement rehabilitation project and incorporated an insitu-stabilisation of the subgrade and base layers. Instead of disposing of the old road base, it was treated onsite so that it could be reused. Following stabilisation, Reconophalt was placed as the wearing course layer meaning that over 70 per cent of the upgraded section on Duncans Road was rehabilitated with recycled materials. “Working with Downer, we can identify opportunities to recycle and reuse materials generated from waste streams from our, and other industries,” Mr. Morrison says. “We are in the process of getting our services contract certified by the
