Adelaide
Background
The $620M Darlington Upgrade Project is another important stage in the delivery of Adelaide’s North-South Corridor. The upgrade of 3.3 km of the existing Main South Road will include a lowered non-stop motorway beneath Flinders Drive to Tonsley Boulevard requiring grade separations at five intersections. The project is being delivered by the Gateway South consortium comprising Fulton Hogan and Laing O’Rourke, as well as SMEC, Jacobs and KBR.
Scope
CMW have worked closely with the construction team on temporary works designs for deep excavations, working platforms and pavement assessments for the SPMT travel path.
Findings/Challenges
Given the highly urbanised environment, tight project boundaries and requirement to keep traffic flowing during construction, space is at a premium on this project. CMW have utilised unsaturated soil mechanics to optimise the design of deep excavations. Where ground conditions allow this has often resulted in a simple steeply benched/battered excavation that would otherwise have required temporary shoring. We have also designed many hundreds of square metres of working platform for heavy crane lifts and CFA piling operations.