Toowoomba infrastructure project wins big

GHD and Toowoomba Regional Council in Australia have scooped the pool at the 2015 Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) Queensland Excellence Awards.

The Outer Circulating Road (OCR) was awarded the best Design and Construction Project over AUD10 million, and then went on to receive the 2015 Overall Winner award.

The AUD45 million OCR project, located in Toowoomba’s Central Business District (CBD), involved the design and construction of a four-lane extension of Victoria Street, a new Gowrie Creek bridge, doubling the Russell Street culvert structure capacity and upgrading West and East Creek channels.

As well as delivering a new transport link in the city, the project has delivered vital flood mitigation benefits to an area that was devastated by the 2011 flood events.

GHD's Toowoomba, Brisbane and Birtinya offices collaborated to complete the preliminary and detailed design stages of the project, and assisted Council through construction.

Toowoomba Manager David Hogan, who project managed all the stages of the OCR, says the award was particularly rewarding for Council and GHD given the considerable challenges the project presented and the benefits it has now delivered.

“The project footprint was extremely constrained, bounded by a National Highway, an active rail corridor, heritage-listed infrastructure, an active business precinct and two major creek systems traversing through the project”, he says.

“I’d like to congratulate the project team who delivered exceptionally high quality civil, structural, geotechnical, hydraulic, electrical, stakeholder engagement and urban design services. The commitment of this multidisciplinary team has assisted Council to successfully deliver this landmark project for the city.”

IPWEA acknowledged the benefits the project has delivered including improved traffic flow in and around the CBD, significant flood mitigation improvements, safety and economic benefits to the local community and a greatly improved aesthetic appeal of Toowoomba’s historic rail precinct.