By Ashley Karen
Over 4.5km of the road deck has been installed across West Gate Tunnel project’s twin tunnels in Australia.
A specialist machine is lifting and installing over 2,000 giant 24-tonne concrete segments to construct the future road surface.
John Holland Joint Venture and CPB Contractors completed tunneling in May, and the two Herrenknecht EPBMs are now being withdrawn. A 400-tonne crane is moving into position to lift the last pieces of tunnel boring machine Bella’s 15.6m wide cutter head out of the outbound portal, and the dismantling of tunnel boring machine Vida is almost complete.
Moreover, work is underway to build the tunnel entries and exits and prepare for the timber net structures installation.
Vida and Bella were the most extensive tunnel boring machines in the Southern Hemisphere – each with a 15.6m diameter, 90m long, and weighing 4,000 tons.
West Gate is the first Australian tunnel to be built with an elevated road surface, delivering another tunnel underneath for critical services, ventilation, and emergency access maintenance.
The tunnel is envisioned to commence in late 2025 and is designed to relieve congestion on the West Gate Freeway and West Gate Bridge and decrease the number of trucks on residential streets.
