By Golder, the leading global engineering and consulting firm, celebrated the opening of the new WestConnex M8 in Sydney, Australia, in July 2020. The project is part of Australia’s greatest and most complex multi-disciplinary transport infrastructure project.
While Sydney experiences transport challenges, rapid population growth, and increasing road congestion, road improvements are essentially needed for safer, quicker and more reliable travel. It is expected from the the WestConnex M8, linking Kingsgrove to a new interchange at St Peters, to decrease congestion and halve the duration of a peak-hour trip into the city.
The large-scale project is multifaceted and unique, with two new 9 km road tunnels and a multi-level road interchange built over a historical industrial landfill. Golder was involved throughout the construction and design process of the project supporting client CPB Dragados Samsung JV, who were responsible for building the project on behalf of the asset owner/ operator, WestConnex | Transurban. The company’s wide-ranging involvement and cross-discipline interaction for over six years spanned contamination, geotechnical, water and waste management, and also design and construction aspects.
Craig Curnow, Golder’s Regional Leader for New South Wales stated: “We are proud that our multi-disciplinary expertise has supported our client to safely and successfully complete as large and intricate a project as the WestConnex M8, which is a critical element in building a modern transport network across Sydney.”
He also asserted: “Leveraging the technical excellence of our national and international experts, we have focused on solutions to drive the design and construction program, reducing risks and adding value to the project across an extensive range of activities.”
For assessing the ground conditions, Golder conducted extensive hydrogeological, geotechnical and contamination site researches across over 500 locations, at depths up to 90 m. The landfill investigation was exclusively challenging, requiring penetration through as much as 40 m of historical construction and municipal waste.
The incorporation of the historical landfill into the landform of the St Peters Interchange with minimal haulage of excavated materials and waste away from the site, was a significant sustainability goal of the project.
Golder worked with the project team in order to identify options to decrease waste and reuse clean tunnel spoil and excavated material for pre-load embankments, temporary works platforms and general earthworks.
Golder keep involving in the broader WestConnex project, supplying consulting services to the adjacent M4-M5 Link project, due for completion in 2023.
