DSI supplies Specialty Systems for Australia’s largest Infrastructure Project
The city of Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city and is continuing to grow even larger. In order to cope with ever increasing traffic congestion in the north of the city, three large infrastructure projects are currently under construction (Brisbane Airport Link, Northern Busway and Airport Drive Connection). DSI Australia Civils participated in two projects: Brisbane Airport Link and Northern Busway.
The Brisbane Airport Link is a road tunnel that will link the city center with the airport. At a length of approx. 6.7km, the toll tunnel will be Australia’s longest road tunnel after its completion, which is scheduled for mid-2012. It is anticipated that the tunnel will be used by 95,000 vehicles per day and will facilitate a quick connection from the city center to the north. The tunnel consists of two separate tunnel tubes running at a depth of up to 30m and accommodating three lanes each. A combination of drilling and blasting, road headers and TBMs were used for tunnel excavation. The tunnel walls are sealed with a PVC sheet membrane on top of which the cast-in-situ concrete lining was placed using 10 and 12m long slip forms. In the transition areas such as the passages to underground stations, the tunnel lining consists of shotcrete. The second project, the widening of the Northern Busway, will also connect the city center with the northern districts. The new double lane section will only be used by buses to ensure faster transportation independent of road traffic. Near the airport, the Northern Busway will be connected to the Brisbane Airport Link. The Northern Busway runs underground for a length of 1.5km in a separate tunnel. Up to 17 road headers were used for the new tunnel structures – more machines than had ever been used for any other Australian project. Both of the TBMs used were the largest of their kind ever operated in Australia. DSI Australia supplied the following products for both projects:
over 50,000 temporary Posimix AX Bolts
over 7,000 temporary CT-Bolt™
over 21,500 double corrosion protected (DCP) DSI Rock Bolts for temporary and permanent use
approx. 18,500m of Rock Bolts
over 3,500 Fiberglass Bolts
AT Pipe Umbrellas
over 2,500m of Lattice Girders