MRIA Road Modification Project

Project Description

The Metropolitan Road Improvement Alliance (MRIA) was formed to deliver the design and construction of three scopes of work in the Perth Metropolitan area. The contract was awarded in May 2017 with construction across all sites expected to be completed by late 2019. The project is being delivered by the alliance formed between Main Roads Western Australia (Main Roads), CPB Contractors, Georgiou Group, WA Limestone, GHD, AECOM, and BG&E.

The three packages of work underwent various design changes and significant scope changes since conception. Despite this, the works have generally been maintained within the original development envelopes which has meant that the changes haven’t created significant challenges for environmental objectives.

Abaxa were mobilised at the project inception in 2017 to the initial site for final design utilities alignment confirmation under a project production plan to work with the MRIA project timeline and budget to meet the construction program.

We understand that construction cannot proceed without positive response and accurate utility clearance to support the permit to work system. Abaxa has a plethora of technical experts in utility locating and can resource multiple crews to meet the MRIA major civil project demand and contribute to the planning and maintenance of the project on time and budget, avoiding costly delays and downtime.

Abaxa was able to complete a large quantity of work on the project plan in a short period based on resourcing capacity and production targets that were delivered daily to support final design timelines and construction approvals.

Under our ISO accreditation for quality, safety and the environment, we met the project HSE plan with a fast commercial process including the induction of people resources and vehicle, plant and equipment inspection approvals to the required timeline. This ISO foundation underpinned compliance and enabled the speedy mobilisation and management of the commercial review and procurement requirements.

A key challenge on a project of this size was working with the Site Engineers and Project Manager on access to get the best quality results when identifying and locating utilities. Reducing asset risk was also a challenge, which we overcame by applying best practice locating procedures. Restriction to areas, due to traffic management and planned access to sites for continuous locating, challenged the quality of our results and meant difficult production and locating.

This was overcome through active communication on progress and issues, with daily pre-start and project leads at Abaxa recommending alternative solutions for time frames to be assessed by technical persons to ensure support crews were resourced correctly to keep the project moving on time.

Abaxa provided collaborative expert advice on utility risk and approach, and made recommendations to achieve production, as well as tie in the survey of the utility clearances and final CAD DWG. These efforts provided a fast turnaround that kept the project within the allotted time frame or faster when the information was needed to support major design decisions.

To work in areas that could not get 4WD access, crews completed QLA by hand.

In areas with poor ground conditions that inhibited traditional locating methods, Abaxa provided recommendations to ensure that utilities were traced and surveyed to a QLA standard.