The Darlington Upgrade Project is an important stage in the delivery of Adelaide’s North- South Corridor, comprising approximately 3.3 kilometres of motorway with significant grade separations and road bridges – including:
- A non-stop motorway between the Southern Expressway and Tonsley Boulevard.
- A lowered, non-stop motorway passing underneath Flinders Drive, Sturt Road, Sutton Road/Mimosa Terrace and Tonsley Boulevard.
- Grade separation of the Main South Road/Ayliffes Road/Shepherds Hill Road intersection.
- Main South Road (at grade) surface roads along both sides of the lowered motorway to provide connections to Flinders Drive, Sturt Road and most local roads.
- Full free flow interchange at the Southern Expressway/Main South Road with dedicated ramps providing direct access to the new motorway and Main South Road.
The $620 million project is jointly funded by Australian and State governments ($496 million federally funded and $124 million state funded). It is due to be completed in the second half of 2019.
Source: Government of South Australia
DRASOL provided multiple work groups over an extended period carrying out a wide range of services including:
- Wastewater infrastructure and valve installation
- Potable water mains
- Electrical/communications infrastructure (common service trenching)
- Large diameter stormwater drainage
- Deep excavations with shoring
- Gross pollutant traps and detention systems
- Detailed excavation and minor pavement works
Significant stormwater infrastructure was installed, with pipework up to 3m diameter at depths up to 7m.
Other DRASOL work groups installed potable water and utility service conduits under live-traffic conditions, working within significant time-critical schedules to avoid disruptions to peak traffic flows. We also installed a significant stormwater management asset comprising pollutant traps and pre-cast detention chambers founded on a heavy-duty cast in- situ concrete base.
By following a stringent safe working methodology these works were completed ahead of schedule and without incident.