Bruxner Highway Tabulam New Bridge Project
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BRUXNER HIGHWAY – TABULAM NEW BRIDGE PROJECT Route options assessment Value management workshop MAY 2014 (blank page) Contents 1 Report ..............................................................................................................6 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................6 1.2 Workshop objectives .....................................................................................7 1.3 Workshop activities........................................................................................8 1.4 Workshop outcomes ......................................................................................8 Figures Figure 1-1 Route options..........................................................................................7 Appendices Appendix A Value Management Workshop - Participant List Appendix B Project Information and Analysis Appendix C Route Option Review and Recommendation Appendix D Extracts from the Value Management Workshop Background Paper Bruxner Highw ay - Tabulam New Bridge Project iv Route Option Assessment - Value Management Workshop (blank page) Bruxner Highw ay - Tabulam New Bridge Project v Route Option Assessment - Value Management Workshop 1 Report 1.1 Background Tabulam is in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales and is situated on the Bruxner Highway (HW16), between Tenterfield and Casino. Located on the Clarence River, its position on the northern catchment of one of Australia’s largest rivers affords it geographical and environmental significance. Originally occupied by the Bundjalung people, Tabulam and surrounding land was first settled by Europeans in 1839. A postal service from Grafton was established in 1848 and eventually a courthouse and post office opened in 1849. The river crossing remained a problem with many sheep-droving teams stranded when the river flooded. The existing bridge was built in 1903, though a punt had aided river crossings as early as 1863. As such the heritage of the town is an important consideration when planning for a new bridge over the Clarence River. The existing Bruxner Highway bridge over the Clarence River at Tabulam, which is a State heritage listed structure, is primarily a timber structure and has an overall length of about 300 metres, comprising 13 timber approach spans and five composite timber/steel de Burgh truss central spans. The overall width between kerbs is 4.6 metres, accommodating single lane traffic only. The main spans are supported by concrete piers located in the river, whilst the approaches are supported by timber trestles. Extensive maintenance works have been carried out over recent years to ensure the bridge remains safe for legally loaded vehicles. However, the bridge presents significant transport limitations both now and into the future and also requires a disproportionate share of NSW Roads and Maritime Services (Roads and Maritime) bridge maintenance funding. Roads and Maritime is currently carrying out investigations to replace the existing Bruxner Highway bridge over the Clarence River at Tabulam with a modern structure and to remove the existing structure. In November 2013 four route options were put forward for further investigation and displayed for community comment. Figure 1-1 below shows the route options displayed for comment. Bruxner Highw ay - Tabulam New Bridge Project 6 Route Option Assessment - Value Management Workshop Figure 1-1 Route options As part of the planning process, a value management workshop was seen as an appropriate tool to bring together a wide range of stakeholder interests and expertise to review the outcomes of investigations carried out to date and, on balance of issues and consideration of the options against agreed assessment criteria, to recommend a direction for further investigation to progress the project’s development. The value management workshop is one input into the process for determining the preferred route for the project. It should be noted that the removal of the existing bridge was not considered in the workshop. The value management workshop focused on the recommendation of a preferred option from the four shortlisted route options. The Australian Centre for Value Management (ACVM) was commissioned to facilitate and report on the workshop which was held on 18 February 2014. Participants included a wide range of stakeholders including local community members, council, Transport for NSW, Roads and Maritime and consultants. A list of participants who attended the workshop can be found in Appendix A. The project team acknowledges the contribution of all the participants to the value management workshop. 1.2 Workshop objectives The objectives of the workshop were to: • Obtain a common understanding of the work carried out to date on the Tabulam New Bridge Project • Review the route options, evaluate them against assessment criteria and recommend a preferred option to progress the project. Bruxner Highw ay - Tabulam New Bridge Project 7 Route Option Assessment - Value Management Workshop This report aims to provide an objective overview of the project aspects discussed and the outcomes formulated by the end of the workshop. 1.3 Workshop activities The workshop process builds on the perspectives and specialist knowledge held by the workshop participants. There were three main activities or processes associated with this value management workshop. These are detailed later in this report and were: A) Review of information B) Review and development of the assessment criteria C) Evaluation of options. The review of information included the following: • Background papers that were issued to participants prior to the workshop • A number of short presentations relating to the project were made • The problem situation and project objectives were reviewed • Assumptions being made about the project were identified and challenged from various points of view. The review and development of assessment criteria included the following: • Draft assessment criteria prepared before the workshop were examined and weighted under the key themes/perspectives being: – Technical/functional – Socio-economic – Environment. The four route options were then presented and their opportunities and risks were discussed (information presented and supplemented by the workshop group can be found in Appendices B, C and D). The group then evaluated the route options against the assessment criteria developed as well as discussing their relative strategic cost estimates. The workshop discussions led to the following outcomes outlined below. 1.4 Workshop outcomes By the end of the workshop, the participants had: Gained a shared understanding of the purpose of the project being to overcome the significant transport limitations as well as the maintenance costs both now and in the future by replacing the existing bridge with a modern concrete structure. Reflected on the project objectives (ie what must the project achieve to be successful) that the team were working to and sought clarity where required. The group also shared from their various perspectives what else was important about the project (Appendix B). Examined the ‘givens’ that the project was working within and the constraints that needed to be taken into account. These provided the context in which the project was being considered (Appendix B). Bruxner Highw ay - Tabulam New Bridge Project 8 Route Option Assessment - Value Management Workshop Identified and weighted assessment criteria that reflected the project objectives and items of importance and which could be used to differentiate and evaluate the options. The agreed assessment criteria were: • From a technical/ functional perspective − Optimising the geometry standards of the road and bridge − Improve existing conflict points (intersections and accesses) on the highway − Controlling operating speed through Tabulam village − Minimising impact on major public utilities − Maximising use of existing infrastructure − Ease and safety of construction and demolition. • From a socio-economic perspective − Improving pedestrian and cyclists connectivity and safety − Minimising adverse impact on business/service patronage − Minimising the number of lots impacted/farm land (ie. land acquisition) − Minimising visual impact − Impact on the sensitivity of the landscape character − Road user impact during construction (ie. impact of construction traffic on highway and impact on local roads) − Minimising noise impact on identified sensitive receivers. • From an environmental perspective − Minimising the area of native vegetation impacted − Minimising the area of fauna habitat and connectivity impacted − Minimising the impact on Aboriginal cultural heritage. It should be noted that although important and required to be considered as planning for the project moves forward, the criteria ‘Road user impact during construction (ie impact of construction traffic on highway and impact on local roads)’ did not attract a weighting when using pairwise comparison as it was considered to be important across all options and so was not used in the evaluation of options (Appendix B). There are a number of other assessment criteria that are important and need to be addressed within the project (Appendix B). However the group felt that these criteria would not assist in differentiating between the route options and were not used in the evaluation of options. Reviewed options A, B, C and D as the route options for the project and discussed their differences