Tugun Bypass construction milestone sees hand-over of airport land

Construction of the $543 million Tugun Bypass has passed its next major milestone, with the completion of essential early tunnel works ahead of time and on budget.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Paul Lucas today inspected the project and welcomed the completion of the tunnel work, which will allow the start of runway extensions to the Gold Coast Airport.

“This is a major milestone for the Tugun Bypass,” Mr Lucas said.

“Completion of the Bypass has been one of my priorities as Minister, and this shows how serious we are about building better roads for South East Queensland.

“The Tugun Bypass and the airport upgrade are both vital pieces of Gold Coast infrastructure.

“Work can now get started on extending the runway and we’re well on track to completing the Tugun Bypass by the end of 2008.”

The 7km motorway will fill a missing link in the national highway network, reducing travel times between Stewart Road and the border from 30 minutes to 5 minutes by 2017.

Mr Lucas said work started in June on the early tunnel works, which included the construction of the tunnel walls and roof slab of the section that runs under the proposed runway extension.

Work on the remainder of the state-of-the-art 334m tunnel will continue right up to the project completion date.

Mr Lucas said key bridge works at Tugun Hill and HiddenValley were progressing well, with most of the substructure of the HiddenValley bridge almost complete, while stage one of the Tweed Interchange had also started.

“The Tugun Bypass project is a complex project and the Beattie Government has committed $423 million to construct it,” Mr Lucas said.

“I thank the Federal Government for its $120 million contribution.”

Mr Lucas said the bypass construction also provided a welcome employment boost in the area.

“During the peak construction period in October, employment at the construction site reached 570 jobs, most of which were filled by local workers,” Mr Lucas said.

Mr Lucas said the continuing tunnel work provided numerous challenges to the project team.

“There is more than 60,000 cubic metres of earth still to be removed to create the tunnel, which is difficult because of the soft, sandy soil below the water table,” he said.

“Another challenging aspect is that, due to the Airport Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS), work on the line of the runway must be carried out below a height of six metres, except outside the airport's hours of operation between 11pm and 5am.

“The tunnel was built from the top down, with state-of-the-art construction technology not normally used in Australia.”

Included in the final tunnel will be 18 jet fans, worth a total of $750,000, which will be used to remove car exhaust fumes.

Part of the essential tunnel works also included construction of a rail slab to be used to protect any future rail line extension from Robina to Coolangatta.

GoldCoastAirport Managing Director Dennis Chant commended PacificLink Alliance on completing the tunnel works ahead of schedule.

“The project development has been particularly exciting to witness and Gold Coast Airport is appreciative of the efforts of the project team in enabling a cooperative working relationship during the tunnel construction," Mr Chant said.

“Early stages of the runway extension works have already commenced and now we can keep working to project timelines without delay.”

Mr Lucas said the bypass was essential to prevent the southern Gold Coast and northern Tweed region from becoming choked by traffic.

“The progress of the Tugun Bypass is welcome news for the community to reduce congestion and delays currently experienced on local streets.”

Mr Lucas said community consultation was an important part of the project, and recent public displays at local shopping centres in the region, providing an update on progress, had been well attended.

Media inquiries: Robert Hoge 3237 1942