Construction
Sections 1 and 2
The design and construction contract for the 10.5 km long section 1 was awarded to Abigroup Contractors in November 2005 for $134.8 million. Construction work commenced on 17 February 2006. Section 2 was delivered via two separate design and construction contracts. The contract for 4.5 km of freeway was awarded to Cut and Fill Pty Ltd for $31.7 million, while FRH (now Fulton Hogan) won the $15.5 million contract for the Moorabool River bridges. Construction work on section two commenced on 27 September 2006.
The Creamery Road overpass in Bell Post Hill was the first major element of the project to be opened in January 2007 (a number of minor access road deviations had been completed earlier). The Broderick Road overpass was opened in November 2007. The 200m long bridges over the Moorabool River, the largest on the project, had the final span installed on 6 March 2008. The bridges contain 70 beams and have 12 piers.
In 2007 VicRoads said that section one was to be completed by February 2008, but by that time completion had been pushed out to the middle of 2008. By this time earth works were completed on stage two, with 700,000 cubic metres of earth moved, and installation of noise walls had started along with landscaping.
By May 2008 completion of stages one and two of the road has been delayed until November, with VicRoads staying that "wet and cold weather in recent weeks had prevented sealing the road surface". At this time the Victorian Government permitted the filming of a plane crash scene from the Nicolas Cage film Knowing on the incomplete road at Corio.
Local police expressed concerns about a staged opening of the road, with drivers using temporary shortcuts not suited to heavy traffic and large vehicles.
Construction on sections 1 and 2 reached practical completion when the road opened to traffic on 14 December 2008.
Section 3
The $108.3 million design and construction contract for section 3 was awarded on 25 July 2007 to Abigroup Contractors. Section three works include 7.5 kilometres of freeway, the transportation of 4.7 million cubic metres of earth, and twin 110 metre long bridges over the Barwon River. Construction of section 3 commenced on 14 September 2007.
By February 2008 550,000 cubic metres of earth had been moved to the north and south of Barrabool Road, and the foundation works for the arch structure over Wandana Drive were complete. Section three was originally scheduled for completion in the second half of 2009 however it was announced in early June 2009 that section three would open 6 months early on 14 June 2009.
Section 4A
The design and construction contract for section 4A was awarded to Fulton Hogan on 16 December 2008 for $61.7 million. Construction began in March 2009 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.
Read more about this topic: Geelong Ring Road
Famous quotes containing the word construction:
“When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“No construction stiff working overtime takes more stress and straining than we did just to stay high.”
—Gus Van Sant, U.S. screenwriter and director, and Dan Yost. Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon)
“There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)