One of South Australia (SA)’s newest components of major road infrastructure is currently under construction, and will be its first to feature a concrete pavement. Lend lease Engineering’s $885-million Northern Connector is a six-lane, 15.5-kilometre (9.6-mi) motorway that will provide a vital freight and commuter link between the Northern Expressway, South Road Superway, and Port River Expressway, delivering a non-stop journey of 43km (26.7 miles) between Gawler and Regency Park.
George Panagopoulos, Project Manager, said concrete was chosen by the Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure for the project because it promised a long life and low maintenance solution, as well as [great] social and economic returns for the state of SA. He stated, “The concrete pavement has a slightly higher initial capital cost but is expected to offer increased durability and almost halve the ongoing maintenance costs. In fact, the whole-of-life cost saving is approximately 42% in comparison to a standard asphalt pavement.”
About 13 kilometers (8 miles) of the new roadway will be finished with a Plain Concrete Pavement (PCP). With the PCP solution being used for the first time on a major SA road project, there has been a welcome transfer of new skills into the local workforce. Choosing a concrete pavement has created more than 40 extra jobs, and an additional $11 million injected into the SA economy.
The construction of the concrete pavement will be about 90% local content—with the cement and quarry materials being sourced from local businesses. The other 10% content that will be sourced, include: Cement and ground granulated blast furnace slag from Adelaide Brighton; reinforcing steel and billet from Liberty OneSteel; and quarry products from Southern Quarries and Clinton Sands. Four of the 19-member concrete paving crew have been brought across from the eastern states, where they worked on the concrete-paved Pacific Highway, to help train up the locals.
“It means when the next PCP opportunity comes around in SA, we’ll have those skills here on the ground,” Mr Panagopoulos said.
The Northern Connector concrete pavement is being constructed in two layers. A 150mm-thick (6 inches thick), low-strength, 5MPa sub-base is first laid on top of the compacted road base, acting as a levelling layer for the subsequent layer. Another 270mm (10.5 inches) of high-strength 35Mpa plain concrete is then laid as the trafficable pavement layer. Grooves, known as Low Noise Diamond Grooving (LNDG), are cut into the surface along the entire length of the travel lanes to reduce vehicle noise.
An onsite batch plant located at Waterloo Corner is supplying the approximately 175,000 cubic meters (191,000 cubic yards) of concrete needed for the concrete pavement, and with almost half of the pavement laid, the project is well on track for completion at the end of this year.
The Northern Connector Project is jointly funded by the Federal Government—$708 million, and the South Australian Government—$177 million.
To read the Cement, Concrete, & Aggregates Australia online magazine article titled “SA’s first major concrete roadway to deliver big lifetime savings”, please go to: www.ccaa.com.au/iMIS_Prod/CCAA/Public_Content/RESOURCES/Case_Studies/South_Australias_first_major_concrete_roadway_to_deliver_big_lifetime_savings.aspx?utm_source=eNewsletter&utm_medium=Informz&utm_campaign=email%20marketing
To view the ISCP-posted DRONE VIDEO associated with this ISCP article titled “South Australia’s Northern Connector Drone Footage”, please see the ISCP post: https://www.concretepavements.org/2020/02/13/south-australias-northern-connector-drone-footage/