8 December 2018
ACCIONA and its joint venture partner have reached a major milestone on the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC) project, with partial opening achieved.
The $1.6 billion Public Private Partnership is one of Queensland’s highest priority road infrastructure projects, which is estimated to increase economic activity in the region by $2.4 billion over 30 years. The benefits of the range crossing include improvements in freight travel times and driver safety, relieving pressure on local roads in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley regions, and enhancing liveability for residents.
The partial opening covers 24km of the TSRC from the Mort Street interchange at Cranley to the Gore Highway at Athol. Nexus Operations has commenced highway maintenance services for this section of the road, operating from its new centre at Bedford Street, Cranley.
The remaining section of the TSRC is anticipated to open around mid-2019.
Fernando Fajardo, Managing Director for ACCIONA Infrastructure Australia, New Zealand &South East Asia, said: “We are very pleased to reach this milestone, and congratulations to the construction team and Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads for their hard work and collaboration on this massive project.”
“We would also like to thank all of the local contractors that have been working with us. Over 80% of the project expenditure is spent with local businesses, generating supply chain benefits and bringing work to hundreds of local people.”
The significant scale of the TSRC is apparent in the project’s statistics. There have been over four million truck movements, 12 million cubic metres of earthworks and 2,000 pieces of heavy equipment used. More than 83,000 cubic metres of concrete have been poured and 498 Super T girders installed. The project also includes the highest viaduct in Queensland measuring at 51 metres high, and 30 new bridges at 24 bridge sites.
Over four million hours have been worked with all staff home safely each evening, and the most recent million hours containing no lost-time injuries. Injury rates across the project are well below industry averages.
The project is funded by the Federal and State governments, with the joint venture partners working together to deliver the project for Nexus Infrastructure, which was awarded the contract to design, construct, operate and maintain the TSRC in August 2015. Nexus Infrastructure is a consortium of global leaders and investors comprising of Plenary Group, Cintra and ACCIONA Concesiones.