By Lynda Myer
In order to excavating the North East Link Tunnels, the first of two TBMs with 4000t weight has passed testing.
With destination of the Port of Melbourne, the first parts of the TBM have completed their journey by sea and using a convoy known as a superload, they are due to travel from the Port of Melbourne to Watsonia on oversized trucks over 3 nights on Friday 8 September, Saturday 9 September and Thursday 21 September to minimize impacts to road users.
While the journey path will be from the Port of Melbourne to Watsonia over the next 6 months, more than 20 superloads, which are up to 60m long, over 4m high and more than 9m wide and travel speed between 5km/h and 40km/h will be required for travel.
Meanwhile the Spark Consortium, that is delivering the North East Link Primary Package get ready for tunneling to start next year.
The estimated time duration for assembling this 15.6m diameter TBMs will be almost 6 months, with the parts lowered into the ground by a massive a 550-t gantry crane. Following that the TBMs are slated to work day and night digging the 6.5km twin tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen and are going to take traffic under, instead of through, suburbs.
While preparing for the arrival of these massive machines, major work sites are being established from Watsonia to Bulleen and in order to storing the concrete segments that will line the tunnel walls, a 200m long tunnel launch area is being constructed on the eastern side of Greensborough Road with a 13m high shed.
Additionally, the process of transporting the dirt from the TBM tunnels across Greensborough Road into a second shed at Winsor Reserve, where it will be safely loaded onto covered trucks, will be done through a large covered conveyor.
There will be a full overnight closure on Greensborough Road in late September to install the enclosed conveyor across Greensborough Road.
In order to making space to build the new Yarra Link green bridge over Bulleen Road, which is due to connect Koonung Creek Trail to Bulleen Park for the first time, further south, crews are moving Bulleen Road further west. The existing Bulleen Road will stay open until the realigned section is complete later this year.
