NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2009

GAWLER FRISBY ROAD

CURTIS ON RAMP OFF RAMP GAWLER ROAD

EXISTING CURTIS ROAD FRISBY ROAD

CURTIS ROAD

OFF RAMP ON RAMP SITE OFF RAMP OFFICE ON RAMP

CITY N CURTIS ROAD Curtis Road interchange

Curtis Road aerial image and inset of artist’s impression of the Curtis Road Interchange OFF RAMP ON RAMP as it will look in 2010 on completion.

N CITY expressway The Big Picture… overview: taking shape

>> A workforce of more than 200 direct With more than 1 million cubic metres of soil now shifted, Minister for Transport Patrick Conlon said the construction employees is building the new 23km four lane, the roadway corridor for the Northern Expressway is progress was ahead of schedule in several areas, with the two-way Northern Expressway. It will link the clearly visible. To put that figure into context, it’s enough laying of asphalt expected to begin in March on a section upgraded Sturt Highway at the Gawler Bypass to fill the entire volume of the famous 102 floor Empire of the expressway north of Two Wells Road. State Building in New York. with Port Wakefield Road, just north of A feature of the project is the local building on site of a Waterloo Corner Road and features a shared With the generally flat terrain in the region, it is difficult commercial sized asphalt plant to process the expressway’s use cycling/walking path along its length. for residents or commuters to see the advanced level asphalt pavement. Special engineering equipment seen for >> The expressway project also involves a recently of construction activity as the roadway conforms the first time in SA will be used in the process of laying the completed 12km upgrade of Port Wakefield Road through local areas. asphalt and will improve rideability on the new road. from north of Taylors Road to the Salisbury Highway This helicopter photo taken late last year shows the “By setting up an asphalt plant in the northern region the to cater for future traffic volumes. developing formation of the Curtis Road Interchange. project will make savings on transport and fuel costs over >> The Northern Expressway project is a joint the next year,” Minister Conlon said. “Savings like this have initiative of the Australian and South Australian From Penfield Road to the Gawler Airfield the pathway helped with developing shared-use pedestrian and cycle Governments under the Land Transport for the alignment has been carved from the landscape, paths along the transport corridor. Investment Program and is the largest road giving a sense of the scale to the project that was Minister Conlon said the positive response to the community construction project in since the 1960’s. previously only possible from plans and animations. open day for the Northern Expressway, held in December, >> To speed construction along the corridor, The shape of the interchange ramps and roundabouts for demonstrated the level of local community interest in this advanced bridge construction is now underway entry to and exit from the Northern Expressway are becoming massive project – the largest in South for half a century. to enable quick access for local communities visible. The inset image shows an artist’s impression of the > See story and photographs of the Open Day on Page 3… across the construction site. Curtis Road Interchange as will look on completion. >> The Northern Expressway will bring significant To the upper left side of the photo is the project site office benefits, including safe and efficient freight at the corner of Frisby Road. The grey coloured area next Changes begin transport, to and to the to the site office is now the site of the recently constructed on Taylors Road northern region. dedicated asphalt plant for the paving of the expressway. Changes to Taylors Road and Penfield Road will >> A joint initiative of the Australian and South Australian > See full story on Page 4… Governments the Northern Expressway is ensure the safety of traffic on the expressway and the expected to be completed and open to traffic Progress on construction has been rapid and on schedule, local road network and remove a railway crossing. with most local road closures already in place. The early by December 2010. A detailed map is now available to assist residents construction of bridges at Curtis Road and Angle Vale Road, and commuters using roads around Taylors Road. expected to be completed by May, will allow local traffic to travel over the construction corridor. > See full story on Page 2…

All enquiries: 1300 658 621 Visit: www.northernexpressway.sa.gov.au Email: [email protected]

1300 658 621 1300 658 621 1300 658 621 1300 658 621 northern expressway Community Information

Jobs plan Changes begin on Taylors Road targets achieved In the next few months, Taylors Road will be closed To cross the Northern Expressway corridor local traffic to through traffic at the level crossing with the Adelaide will be able to use Penfield Road. Ultimately an interchange A plan to generate local jobs on the Northern to railway line. with a bridge for local traffic will be built on Penfield Road. Expressway project is achieving its aims of The closure will happen in two stages. Because the road is These changes are being made to ensure the safety of traffic youth employment and training, plus the direct a B-Double transport route, formal processes to change the on the local road network and to accommodate future traffic involvement of local contractors with the project. gazetted truck route in the area will be required. After that developments including the proposed Northern Connector. This positive approach developed for the contract process, expected during March, B-Double trucks will no Works to close the current Taylors Road junction to was a ‘first’ for a major SA Government contract and longer be able to use Taylors Road between Port Wakefield Port Wakefield road will not begin until major construction has been embraced by the project’s lead contractor, Road and the railway line. begins on the Port Wakefield road interchange. Fulton Hogan York Joint Venture. To maintain future B-Double access for local industries, Eventually Taylors Road will be realigned to provide a full The Northern Expressway Project will bring Penfield Road and Taylors Road to Angle Vale Road will service junction at the intersection with Port Wakefield Road significant benefits to South Australia and particularly become the new B-Double route, after improvement works by a diversion along Mill Road into a new connection road the northern areas when the project is completed in to the junction of Penfield and Taylors roads. to join Port Wakefield Road, 400 metres south of the 2010 and the local area is realising some of these Improvements to King Road will maintain access for current intersection. benefits during construction. local traffic, including access to Virginia. The closure of Local road users are asked to check the project Website for Minister for Transport Patrick Conlon said “We are Taylors Road at the railway line will not happen until works traffic updates and to take notice of locally placed electronic engaging with the local community to ensure they on King Road are complete. When King Road is upgraded message signs. Advance information of changes will provide benefit from the range of opportunities this project Taylors Road will be closed to all forms of traffic at the exact dates of closures and will be published in the local is providing, including local employment and railway line. Messenger and The Bunyip newspapers and on the project educational opportunities. Website or through contacting the Information Line. “We are working with our contractors to provide local jobs for local people, and we are exceeding the SYMES ROAD PENFIELD

ROAD targets we set for the employment of young people TAYLORS ROAD VIRGINIA and Aboriginal people in the northern areas. “Businesses and Contractors north of Gepps Cross

have provided many of the goods and services for the OFF RAMP

project and many businesses are also employing staff CITY to assist them.”

GAWLER PORT WAKEFIELD ROAD School groups ON RAMP

ACCESS INTO & OUT OF TAYLORS ROAD Penfield Road PENFIELD ROAD ELIZABETH meet industry NEW TAYLORS ROAD diversion interchange N

N

The project team Department for Transport, CITY EXISTING MILL ROAD Energy and Infrastructure (DTEI) and Fulton Hogan SERVICE ROAD Alternate local traffic movement York Joint Venture are working with schools, universities and community groups to promote engineering and construction as exciting career KING ROAD options for young people in the region. = Alternate Traffic BROWN ROAD Movement

PENFIELD

NASH There is a diverse range of opportunities available on = Road Closures ROAD a project of this scale. The team has identified about 100 different jobs directly involved in delivering the Northern Expressway. These include the obvious SYMES ROAD TAYLORS ROAD jobs including construction and engineering, but also include landscaping, environmental management, ROBINSON ROAD planning, procurement, property management and ANJANTO ROAD

many more. HUXTABLE ROAD

PELLEW ROAD ST KILDA ROAD “We are encouraging groups to visit and tour the site, SHORT

ROAD and to speak to our people working on the project,” ROAD said Project Director Luigi Rossi. WATERLOO “In particular we are trying to open up the door to young CORNER MILL ROAD PENFIELD people and to dynamically show them what the industry MAIN RAILWAY LINE is all about and we will be continuing to look for staff to ADELAIDE – PERTH/DARWIN train on the job over the 2 year period of the project. HEASLIP ROAD

“We are not only trying to offer direct employment to PORT WAKEFIELD ROAD RAAF BASE EDINBURGH youth in the northern area, but also encouraging school CITY N groups in Years 8, 9 and 10 to come out to the site under DIREK supervision to find out what our industry has to offer.” Construction of the Northern Expressway is progressing rapidly and more than 1,000,000 cubic metres of earth Youth plan links to careers has been moved. More than 1,000 people have been inducted to the site so far including all staff, visitors and The Northern Expressway Project is exceeding its people now, and generating interest in future site office tradespeople. targets for generating employment for young people careers in the engineering and construction and Aboriginal people in the Northern area. industry with our schools and universities programs.” The project’s target was for 10% of the workforce to be The expressway team believes that employees young people and Aboriginal people and a level of up to and young visitors to the project will discover opportunities 13% has been achieved in some months. and a career path that will generate skills which can be used in building future projects. The Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (DTEI) project team established the target within its formal The DTEI careers campaign has a website to promote SA as a contract to ensure the successful contractor made a growth region for employment on major transportation projects. commitment to provide local jobs for local people, and to Link to this via www.northernexpressway.sa.gov.au establish contacts and methods to support the initiative. The campaign message is: Get on board to help us drive “The successes we are achieving on this project will support SA’s transport revolution. the department’s recruitment campaign for a raft of future It highlights SA Government plans to build Adelaide’s transport transport projects,” said Minister Conlon. infrastructure over the next decade and the need for trained “We are working in partnership with the Fulton Hogan York joint engineers, planners, project managers and other professions. venture to provide real jobs and skills development for local It also promotes SA’s great lifestyle and work-life balance.

PAGE 2 FEBRUARY 2009 Community Information NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2009

Community sees roadworks close-up

Interested community members responded in get up close to the construction works. The tour enabled large numbers for their own close-up view of the people to get a better understanding of the huge scale of Northern Expressway works during an ‘Open Day’ the project and how far construction work was progressing. event held in December. For younger visitors there were also various safety and Guided bus tours with helpful facts and information construction game activities as well as a temporary tattoo provided by a site manager enabled about 250 people artist and sausage sizzle for the whole family. to see the progress being made on the works corridor. “The Open Day was a real success and allowed people The expressway site was opened up from 10am to 2pm to gain an appreciation of the project’s size and the on the first Sunday in December. Tours began with a site considerable amount of work that has occurred already,” induction at the project’s new Community Room to learn Minister Conlon said. more about the project, view a drive-through animation “We received feedback that people were impressed by Max remembers the and talk to project team members. what they saw and that they enjoyed the opportunity to view “good old days” Minister Conlon, who attended the event, said the the detailed maps, environmental displays and the digital Northern Expressway project team had made a commitment animation of the finished project. Retired road builder Max Cooper of Salisbury to the community to ‘stay in touch’ with local people and “Residents were also shown how to use the updated East had a special interest in viewing the organisations during their time in the region. interactive website map to plan their journeys around expressway construction site in close-up detail. This commitment resulted in the setting up of a dedicated construction works. For around 30 years prior to retirement Max was a room at the site office on Curtis Road that has been used by “It was such as success that the project team is planning Works Manager with Councils in the mid north of SA. school groups, industry bodies, various emergency services for another community day, so we can continue to involve Among projects he supervised were road re-alignments groups and local council representatives within the region. local people in the project.” and safety upgrades on the old Main North Road After a briefing, visitors were given a unique opportunity to around Gladstone, Georgetown and Clare. Activities included: tour the construction site on guided bus tours. The site tour Max said he was amazed at the technology and >> community room displays travelled along the graded alignment and allowed people to global positioning equipment being used by machinery >> staff to answer questions and provide information operators, as well as the digital animations showing a >> free regular escorted tours of the expressway alignment completed road based on engineering data. >> an animation of the expressway route “I am most impressed with the planning that has >> sausage sizzle and children’s games. allowed works to move ahead so rapidly,” Max said. If you would like to know more about the community “People never see all the hidden things that must be room please contact the project team on 1300 658 621 done in advance like the undergrounding of services, or by email at [email protected] water mains and power. “Good engineering is about minimising impact on local residents and I can see the fundamental work Pictured left, talking with Project Director Luigi Rossi are the managers have done in the planning. Brian Lawrence and Dorothy Lawrence, of Hughes Street, Max has one major regret that he was no longer Andrews Farm. Mr Lawrence said: “I found it really very building community infrastructure. ”I just wish we’d interesting to see the actual work happening on the had satellite and aerial images and a computer road ground, which is better than looking at a map. It will be animation like they have today.” good when completed.”

Image above: Max and Jean Cooper of Salisbury East.

Among the delivery crew were Mario Cirillo, of Waterloo Heavy lift team Corner, a sub contract prime mover driver with Andrews Transport, of Helps Road Burton and Justin Llewellyn, delivers Angle of Macclesfield, also a prime mover sub contractor. Workers with York Civil, the project partner with responsibility for bridge construction, included Casey Cullen, of Salisbury Vale bridge East, a leading hand carpenter and Mick Forrestal, a carpenter of Valley View. The first batch of a total 200 pre-cast concrete bridge Completing this first Northern Expressway heavy lifting beams were transported to the expressway corridor team was Barossa Valley based company AllTerrain Lifting over the Australia Day long weekend. Services of Tanunda. Specialist northern area locally-based heavy transportation Image right top: Justin Llewellyn, of Macclesfield, a prime mover driver for Burton company Rex J Andrews Transport, of Burton, was company Andrews Transport also a prime mover sub contractor. Workers with responsible for delivering the first ten giant 60 tonne York Civil, the project partner with responsibility for bridge construction. Image right concrete beams from the Bianco Precast factory at Kilkenny. middle: Casey Cullen, of Salisbury East (left), and Mick Forrestal, of Valley View, both carpenters with bridge builders York Civil. Image right bottom: Martin Hay Police traffic patrols were needed to escort the multiple of Glandore, a crane co-ordinator with York Civil. Image below: Good planning on the expressway means Angle Vale Road commuter traffic will be unaffected long loads from Kilkenny to the site of the Angle Vale by construction works continuing along the corridor below. The next bridge to Road bridge. be constructed is at the Curtis Road interchange.

www.northernexpressway.sa.gov.au PAGE 3 northern expressway

Top soil being saved

With the current drought conditions and hot northerly Mike Kenealy explains: “It’s one of the first things we do winds sweeping across the northern Adelaide plains, when you start a job like this, you try to strip all the topsoil management of dust is a difficult challenge faced by and save it for later when you finish the project.” the construction team and other contractors working “The stockpiled resource is stored temporarily and is sprayed on large development projects in the region. with a natural cellulose fibre to create a protective cover to Approximately 2.5 million cubic metres of fill will be moved reduce dust and to stop weed growth. around the expressway corridor, and 450,000 cubic metres “This way the soil will be ready to use when we begin of asphalt will be brought in to construct a low maintenance the greening of the roadsides and central median strip. road pavement. The topsoil will gradually be placed back on the edges All this construction activity inevitably creates dust, and a of the roadside after the main construction has finished, dynamic monitoring system is being implemented to minimise providing fresh local topsoil for the greening of the dust impacts on the local community. roadway corridor. Local groups Up to 21 water carts are being used within the expressway “It saves energy and helps to protect a useful local corridor, with recycled and bore water being used to supplement resource, so it’s a win for the environment, the project mains supplies. Several haul roads adjacent to local residences and the community.” benefit from have been sealed in a trial to suppress dust and conserve water. If you have any concerns regarding dust created by The process of Hydro-mulching of topsoil stockpile sites in construction of the Northern Expressway, please ring staff donations key locations has also occurred. Construction Manager the project information line on 1300 658 621. The Northern Expressway project team, comprising DTEI, Fulton Hogan York Joint Venture, Maunsell, SMEC and Dare Sutton New asphalt plant creates more jobs Clarke recently provided a sizable donation to local fire fighters at the Dalkeith Country The Northern Expressway project has a purpose-built Project Manager Danny Parkinson for Fulton Hogan, Fire Service (CFS). asphalt plant on site at Curtis Road, that will deliver said they had made a significant investment in the plant thousands of tonnes of asphalt for the new road’s surface. which was imported in sections from the USA and expected In the first four months operations at the site to be operational in late February. The plant will run until office, members of the project team began This state of the art facility can manufacture asphalt April 2010. donating 20 cents from every coffee purchased incorporating up to 20% recycled material and is a cost at the on-site cafeteria. effective, fuel efficient, eco-friendly asphalt mix system. Regular deliveries of quarry stone aggregate will be made to the site, generally between 7am and 7pm, from the As a community gesture, the main contractor The large scale of the contract made it economically viable Waterloo Quarry via the Barrier Highway, Gawler Bypass, then tripled this donation. These generous to purchase and set up a special plant on the site that will Angle Vale Road, Heaslip Road and Curtis Road. donations added up to $1,600 by the end of save fuel and reduce transport costs. the year. The team decided that this cash be Further detail on operating hours will be provided when At least 450,000 tonnes of asphalt will be laid along donated to the Dalkeith CFS, based at Coventry the plant is commissioned. the 23km of the Northern Expressway, covering up to Road, Munno Para, where it will used to improve 30,000 square metres. training facilities. The project team will continue the community donations for the life of the project in the hope of leaving the community with more than just How to check Traffic an expressway.

Image above: Representing fellow volunteers at Dalkeith CFS, on current works management Toby Frazer thanks Construction Manager Mike Kenealy for the donation to be used for new training equipment. or road closures at Waterloo Corner

While the construction team aim to minimise the impact The realignment of Port Wakefield Road at Waterloo Want to work on the local road network there is a need to have some Corner adjacent to the Adelaide International Raceway lane and road closures, speed restrictions and traffic and Speedway City motor circuits has required changes on the project? management in place. to road access on several local roads. While the project now has a stable workforce While any traffic management is in place we ask for motorists Brown Road is to be closed and a cul-de-sac created. there are times that extra workers are needed, to have patience and understanding as any restrictions are in Further northwards, Ryan Road which is currently closed even temporarily. The project has a quick process place for your safety and that of the workers. to traffic, is to be opened to Port Wakefield Road to create for local workers and suppliers to register for a junction allowing all turning movements. For further details on road works and closures please go to possible work on the Northern Expressway Project. the Northern Expressway interactive map which is updated Access to Adelaide International Raceway, Speedway City With the site office now open on Curtis Road, regularly with information on all aspects of the project. and to local residences and connecting roads will be via registration forms are available locally for filling out at either Ryan Road or St Kilda Road and both will have full the site office. This is a more direct method of linking access turning movements. potential workers with the project while construction is underway. Assisting the project with skills and supplier management is the Industry Capability Network South Australia (ICNSA) that promotes local industry through import replacement and opportunities for participation in major projects. This group will provide purchasers with a free sourcing service to identify local suppliers capable of supplying goods and services to meet project requirements. Call 1300 658 621 Visit: www.northernexpressway.sa.gov.au or visit the site office.

All enquiries: 1300 658 621 Visit: www.northernexpressway.sa.gov.au Email: [email protected]

1300 658 621 1300 658 621 1300 658 621 1300 658 621