Project Description
The New Perth Bunbury Highway (NPBH) project is the largest public road infrastructure project ever undertaken in Western Australia. It forms the vital link between the two largest cities in WA, reducing the travel time for up to 30,000 vehicles per day by approximately 30 minutes. Delivered under an Alliance model, the $705 million project was completed in September 2009, three months ahead of schedule, under budget and exceeding all project objectives. Despite the sheer scale and logistics of the project, SGA has been able to deliver this project whilst balancing environmental sensitivity, community responsibility and political credibility and advancing the reputations of all participants in the process.
The design and construction of this massive project encompassed:
- 5 km of dual carriageway (32 km to freeway standard)
- 19 bridges at 11 different sites
- 6 interchanges
- 32 km of shared paths
- 21 km of noise walls
- Numerous pedestrian and fauna underpasses
- 21 km of drainage
- Aesthetic enhancement and public art
Abaxa were engaged to investigate, locate and verify the utilities along the route of the project to confirm final design for utilities relocation, identify any additional utilities and confirm all utilities for the proposed construction project plan. The project was massive, Abaxa was able to resource another major civil project and work with key clients that we were familiar with in process and expectations from prior knowledge and work successfully to HSE Standards.
Major challenges included working in rural areas investigating and confirming utilities along the proposed alignment of the road way, managing access, safety, environmental concerns and mapping and recording the utility findings.
Another challenge for our clients was having data in a format which seamlessly integrates into their systems. Throughout this project Abaxa’s detailed consultancy uncovered some issues in the native format which was originally requested. Abaxa’s team were able to modify our methods to provide data to Southern Gateway Alliance which was usable and editable.
Results
The Utility Investigation data was used to make informed decisions to deliver their projects on time and within budget. Our services are consistently refined and managed to save time and money for our clients. Abaxa successfully resourced this major project and completed the project with a commendation without incident, attending the Opening Ceremony.
- Zero LTI’s for the entire duration contract
- Abaxa were invited to undertake work for the next stage
- Abaxa were invited to the official opening of the highway with a certificate of thanks
- After initial engagement, the scope was increased to an “on-call” basis to see the project out safely
