After more than 10 years of political football, a massive road construction project is about to get underway in the Toowoomba region in south east Queensland. Costing over $1.3 billion, it consists of 41km of new roads, with about 29km being 4 lane with 2 twin lane tunnels passing through the Gread Dividing mountain range. If you go to the website below, the magnatude of the project can be seen. At the bottom of the page, there is a video fly-over of the project. Will be interesting to see how much equipment is brought in to do this job. There is plenty of surplus mining equipment sitting around at present due to the current mining down-turn. The successful tenderers should be announced in the next few months and construction is planned to start next year. As this job is only about a mile from my place, I will be following the progress with interest. Other details of this road project can be seen by doing a web search on "Toowoomba By-pass" http://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/projects-queensland/projects/toowoomba-range-crossing/images.shtml
I'm sure there will be scraper work on that job, but if the ground there is anything like here, those big cuts will be done with excavators and trucks.....scrapers dont like rock.
Yep, pans can move a lot of dirt in a hurry but not if it's very wet or very rocky.
It has been 3 years since I started this thread. The project has been underway for a while now and about half way completed as far as the earthworks are concerned. Expected to be completed by the end of next year. Over the 41km length of the project, there is a large variety of equipment with each work area consisting of probably about 12 or so machines and estimated numbers of the major machines would be: Scrapers - approx. 50 scrapers with a lot of these being 637 & 633 Cats Trucks - approx. 50 of different brands consisting of articulated types and rear dumps up to Cat 777s Excavators up to 100 ton size Dozers - Cat If any other forum member can add details on the machine numbers, please update my information as this is only based on what I have seen driving past some of the project. This website below has been put together by the principle contractor to keep the public up to date with the progress of this project http://nexustsrc.com.au/
Here is a newer youtube video on scrapers working this project:
Progress clip from October. Doesn’t appear to be many scrapers left on the project now, the completion date of which has been delayed by seven months because of geotechnical issues. The principle contractor is being being hauled in to front the gov. today, to explain 17 equipment rollovers so far. Hopefully the new road will put an end to this sort of drama.
I have been told by various people who have worked on this job that there some very serious issues and it's a whole lot more than 17 rollovers, the major 1 is the lack of drug and alcohol testing.
So a seven month delay might be optimistic? I still think they should of let the local boys build the thing. What they did with the new airport was truly visionary and, along with this new road, will have a huge impact on the region for generations.
Heard a major contractor involved went "Belly up"
Which one Rus?
The brothers from Dalby were on shaky ground well before this project. Getting close now... should save us a good half an hour on the trip to Brisvegas.
I thought the Bros from Dalby were gonnas 3 odd years ago.
Yes down the "dunny" in a big way
That project opened last saturday, very quiet about it too.
Can't wait to go for a drive on it.
Should make the trip to Briz Vegas a lot better. That Hunter freeway down south, bypassing all those little speed trap villages has made the trip to Sydney a huge improvement. Unfortunately this one's a "toll road"
The tolls don’t appear to be too bad. Although, heavy vehicles appear to be charged the same amount, $22.85, whether they be a little two axle truck or a type 1 road train.
Cars & light vehicles (cruisers & patrols) $2.80 probably go to $4 fairly soon !