January 9 2006
Three months ahead of schedule, Laing O'Rourke (the new owner of Barclay Mowlem), Coffey Geosciences and Maunsell Australia, in an Alliance with NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), have officially completed the $49 million construction works to the 900 metre stretch of Lawrence Hargrave Drive (LHD) between Clifton and Coalcliff.
The RTA identified that the only way a solution acceptable to the community could be delivered within an acceptable timeframe was through an alliance delivery method.
Late 2003, the RTA announced the alliance team would deliver a preferred design and costed option within five months, which they did.
Engineering Manager Peter Stewart, Alliance Champion for the LHDA, said that the location was arguably one of the most challenging sites to put any road through.
'We identified early on that, irrespective of the geotechnical expertise applied, the long term stability of the slopes could never be guaranteed', he said.
The preferred solution combined an innovative curving, off-shore bridge with geotechnical stabilisation treatments. It also necessitated a sound engineering solution that would withstand the harsh environmental influences.
To this end the Alliance had devised an option that fulfilled the RTA's requirements of economic viability, maximised availability and use of LHD, and high level safety and risk standards. As well, having sought extensive community feedback, they had ensured the full support and backing of all key stakeholders.
The bridge solution was a first for Australia - it combined two different bridge construction methods, a balanced cantilever bridge and an incrementally launched bridge.
Managing Director, David Hudson, said that the final solution was testimony to the success of alliance contracting.
'The alliance contracting framework can overcome seemingly insurmountable project obstacles by engendering a shared risk approach, actively encouraging joint problem-solving initiatives, fostering engineering innovation, and proactively engaging the community and other related stakeholders' he said.
Now, three months early and after more than a century of temporary road closures owing to an unstable cliff line along LHD, the communities of Coalcliff and Clifton have a reliable transport corridor link, one that is set to rival Victoria's Great Ocean Road for the title of Australia's most spectacular seafront drive.
