An Australian federal government review has backed plans for a 8km road tunnel costing up to US$2.6bn beneath Pennant Hills Road, between Epping and Wahroonga in north Sydney.
Government support follows a seven month review of proposals for the “missing link” between F3 and M2 motorways. The tunnel alignment under Pennant Hills Road was first proposed in 2004.
However, Roads Minister Jim Lloyd could not say when construction would start aside from suggesting it would be by 2012. The road tunnel will require federal funding to go ahead, and current plans call for a public-private partnership.
Elsewhere in Australia, in Melbourne contractor John Holland has won a US$148M contract from Yarra Valley Water (YVW) to construct 4.5km of sewer in the northern suburbs. The contractor will sink four major access shafts up to 39m deep and 10m wide to have the 1.8m diameter sewers excavated by a pair of TBMs.
Work on the scheme, which forms Stage II of the Northern Sewerage Project, is expected to start this month for completion in 2012. It is the first project in the contractor’s six-year partnering agreement with YVW to provide tunnel construction services. The contract is structured on a cost reimbursable, performance incentive basis.
Project manager will be Connell Wagner, and detailed designs were done by SKM Jacobs in association with John Holland. The contractor is also working on Stage One following a contract award by Melbourne Water Corporation. Since 2004, John Holland has been working with both YVW and the Corporation to optimise design and construction of the Northern Sewerage Project.
On the Gold Coast, in Queensland, a 300m long tunnel is to be built as part of an extension of the 4.1km railway line from Robina to Varsity Lakes. The extension is to be completed in 2010.
