Article: Airport Link faces $35m 'adjustment'

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Airport Link faces $35m 'adjustment'

Airport Link faces $35m 'adjustment'
TONY MOORE
October 13, 2009 - 7:25AM

The builders of Brisbane's $4.8 billion Airport Link project will be forced to install double glazing and air conditioning in homes neighbouring the inner-north construction zone in a bid to placate local residents.

The State Government yesterday announced a $35 million adjustment to the tunnelling project after builders Theiss John Holland discovered soft rock near Kedron.

The discovery of the material, where twin tunnel shafts are to be dug to provide underground access between Bowen Hills and Brisbane Airport, threatened to delay the project by eight months if it was not sidestepped.

Soft rock is difficult to dig through.

Queensland's Co-ordinator General yesterday approved "shed and shaft" access at Wooloowin, which will see a 42-metre deep and 12-metre wide hole dug on a suburban block of land on Rose Street in order to continue underground tunnel boring.

An acoustic shed will be built on top of the new work site to shield neighbours from the noise. Theiss John Holland will have to bear the $35 million cost, including the construction of a five-metre acoustic fence, two air quality monitoring stations and a new school crossing near Kedron State High School.

The company will also have to provide double window glazing and airconditioning for nearby homes and businesses.

Residents have complained for months about noise, dust and traffic disruptions around the building site along Lutwyche Road at Kedron, saying the project had cut a swathe through the community.

The project team advised the State Government in June that "adverse rock conditions" near the existing site had the potential to slow the project.

Their report to Co-ordinator General Colin Jensen in June said the adjustment proposal aimed to "establish and operate an additional worksite at Rose Street, Wooloowin for the construction of the Kedron caverns and ramps, and to support the fitout of the ramps and the mainline tunnels of Airport Link.

"Without the change, Airport Link would not be delivered on time," the report said.

Without approval, the project would not meet the State Government's June 2012 deadline.

The tunnel will divert traffic underground to avoid 18 sets of lights between Bowen Hills and Brisbane Airport.

The new Rose Street site will allow road header machines to dig a massive underground cavern to fit two 135-metre long, 12.5 metre high tunnel boring machines needed to build underground on and off-ramps under Wooloowin.

The road header machines will be pulled apart, lowered down the 42-metre shaft and then re-assembled underground.

The two tunnel boring machines start near the western end of Sandgate Road at Kalinga Park, and emerge at the proposed Lutwyche bus station near Chalk Street.

Infrastructure Minister Stirling Hinchliffe asked residents living in the construction zone to look ahead and focus on the project's benefits.

"While I understand some sections of the community may not welcome the Co-ordinator General's decision  I believe it's necessary to ensure the project is delivered on time and will mitigate prolonged impacts for the wider community," Mr Hinchliffe said.

Theiss John Holland was appointed to build the Airport Link project by private company BrisConnections.

BrisConnections CEO Dr Ray Wilson said a new community liaison group would be set up to improve links with the Woolowin community, who have already expressed concerns.

"BrisConnections and Thiess John Holland will work closely with the local community via a new community liaison group that will be established to address any issues or concerns that may arise during the operation of this temporary worksite," Dr Wilson said.

"The Wooloowin worksite will be fully re-mediated and restored at the end of work in early 2012.

[ozbob]

 

[#Metro]

So should everyone next to a rail station get a free airconditioner and double glazing too?

[ozbob]

Not for me thanks, I love getting up at 3am and listening to the dulcet tones of twin 2300's lifting tonnes of coal up Darra bank ....  sure beats a hundred or so B Troubles ...