[U/C] M2 North-South Motorway

[rev]

Identical boring machines to operate continuously for two years to construct Torrens to Darlington southern tunnels

South Australia gets its first look at a pair of massive tunnel boring machines, each as big as a warehouse, which will operate around the clock to dig the Torrens to Darlington parallel tunnels.
Kathryn Bermingham
@KatBermingham
2 min read
November 2, 2021 - 10:17PM

A pair of massive tunnel boring machines, each the size of a large warehouse, will operate around the clock for two years to construct the Torrens to Darlingtonparallel southern tunnels.

New details have been revealed about the identical machines, each expected to cost about $180m, which will begin boring at Clovelly Park and tunnel 4.5km north to Glandore near the Anzac Highway intersection.

North-South Corridor executive director Susana Fueyo said the operation will be a feat of engineering unlike anything the state has seen before.

A continuously-rotating “cutter head” will excavate the ground, with soil placed on a conveyor belt and taken up to the surface.

At the same time, the machine will also lay 15m concrete panels that are interlocked to form the sides of the tunnel.

“Everything is happening at once,” Ms Fueyo said.

“It’s like a continuous factory under the ground.”

The machines are as big as a warehouse and at their deepest points, the top of the tunnels will be 40m underground. They will each be three lanes wide.

Four million cubic metres of clay-rich soil will be removed and collected in a purpose-built shed at the southern laydown area, which must be approved by the EPA for acoustics, dust and air quality.

The soil will be analysed and taken to disposal sites, which Ms Fueyo said are still being investigated.

“We try to seek out sites that need development, so you can place (the soil) and it allows for development to happen,” she said.

A purpose-built substation will be built at the same end to power the machines, which will be used to power the tunnel system at the conclusion of construction.

A replica of the tunnel boring machines used in the Sydney Metro project is currently on loan in Adelaide from the Victorian Tunnelling Centre.

The machines that will be used on the Torrens to Darlington project will look very similar, but more geo-testing is required before the design of the cutter head is finalised.

The machines, manufactured overseas but assembled at the site, will create about 160 jobs including operators and electricians, as well as workers who will make the concrete panels.

Transport Minister Corey Wingard said the project would elevate local engineering capability.

“It’s engineering that this state hasn’t seen before; it happens all over the world and we’re bringing this to Adelaide, South Australia,” he said.

The machines will be retrieved at the Glandore end but it is yet to be determined whether they will be used for the northern tunnels, which will stretch from Richmond to Brickworks.

Site works at Clovelly Park will begin in 2023, before the machines start in 2025.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... 0ca3fbf759

[SRW]

Are these machines repurposable for rail tunnels? If they'll be working on South Rd for two years from 2025, perhaps there's a chance we could plan for a city underground by 2030 too?

[crawf]

Are these machines repurposable for rail tunnels? If they'll be working on South Rd for two years from 2025, perhaps there's a chance we could plan for a city underground by 2030 too?

We can only hope so.

I do believe though once the north-south motorway is finally complete, the focus will be on the city underground loop.

[Spotto]

Are these machines repurposable for rail tunnels? If they'll be working on South Rd for two years from 2025, perhaps there's a chance we could plan for a city underground by 2030 too?

If they are, it would have to be a single double-deck tunnel as some users have suggested previously. The motorway TBMs are too massive for just a single track.

[ChillyPhilly]

Are these machines repurposable for rail tunnels? If they'll be working on South Rd for two years from 2025, perhaps there's a chance we could plan for a city underground by 2030 too?

We can only hope so.

I do believe though once the north-south motorway is finally complete, the focus will be on the city underground loop.

I agree but the Liberals wouldn't dare consider such a proposal.

Edit: this is my 2000th post.

[AG]

Totally different tunnel dimensions for the road and rail tunnels. The road tunnels require approximately 15 metres in diameter whereas a single rail tunnel needs about 8 metres in diameter.

Better bet for obtaining currently TBMs would be from Brisbane's Cross River Rail or Auckland's City Rail Link projects, but not likely as the tunnelling phases for those projects will likely be done well before any detailed planning could be completed. Interestingly enough, the TBMs boring the new tunnels in Brisbane originally came from the central section of the Sydney Metro.

[aceman]

does anyone have access to this evenings news article about more homes to be acquired?

[Saltwater]

There’s not a lot new in the paper, but judging by social media there’s a lot of letters going out today and tomorrow, including areas like Jervois Ave West Hindmarsh, and pockets of Ashford and Marleston. Richmond Primary is apparently safe, but that means ten lanes of traffic still have to fit on the other side of the road.

[Spotto]

West Hindmarsh, Ashford, Richmond residents told their homes will be bulldozed for North-South Corridor project
Owners of hundreds more properties have been told their homes and businesses will be razed for the final stage of the South Rd upgrade.

Elizabeth Henson and Patrick James
November 4, 2021 - 8:00PM

Owners of more than 220 properties between Anzac Highway and the River Torrens are being told their homes and businesses will be bulldozed to make way for the final stage of the North-South Corridor project – but not until late 2024. These are the last of the property acquisitions that will occur as part of the $9.9bn road project.

It comes as a parliamentary inquiry into the project is launched amid claims by the opposition that out-of-date valuations may be used to acquire to properties.

But the state government rubbished those claims, saying residents would be able to receive updated valuations as late as mid-2023, when acquisitions would need to be finalised.

They could also opt to have acquisitions made quickly and lease back homes until the government needed them.

Letters from the Transport Department began arriving in 224 letterboxes in West Hindmarsh, Ashford and Richmond on Thursday, advising owners their properties would be acquired by the state government at the end of 2024, with the acquisition process set to begin in mid-to-late 2022.

Transport Minister Corey Wingard said the department aimed to give residents “as much flexibility as possible regarding their departure date and help ... through the acquisition process”.

West Hindmarsh resident George Czerwinski, 70, said the loss of his family home of 32 years would be a “killer”.

“Where am I gonna get something like this somewhere else?” he said.

“The issue’s always gonna be ‘are they going to compensate us enough for what we’ve put in here?’”

A total of 393 properties will be acquired for the project.

More than 100 properties in Glandore will be razed at the end of 2023, and more than 60 in Clovelly Park at the end of 2022.

In each case, acquisitions will have to be finalised six months prior, with fresh valuations available up to that point.

Also on Thursday, parliament’s Public Works Committee voted to investigate the project, including the process used to determine which properties would be acquired; the methodology used to calculate valuations of properties to be acquired; and the consultation process.

Labor’s transport spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said: “We are being told the department is using old property valuations to acquire properties in 2022 that will not be needed until 2024.” Mr Wingard said Labor, when in government, “didn’t have the guts to face the community” and take on the hardest part of the North-South Corridor.

Meanwhile, South Road Inner West Action Group, which represents more than 1000 members of West Torrens Council community’s frustrated western suburbs residents, are calling on Mr Wingard to hold off making any decisions on the design of the final stage of the project’s northern section until they have been properly consulted on the plan.

And here’s the project map included in the article, a simplified version of the one already released:

[NTRabbit]

Selling your house to the government, and then using the money they paid you for it to lease it back until demo time, seems like an idea right out of the horror section that spawned the legislation to get people in their 30s and 40s to withdraw all their super to pay for food and rent during COVID lockdown

[SBD]

Selling your house to the government, and then using the money they paid you for it to lease it back until demo time, seems like an idea right out of the horror section that spawned the legislation to get people in their 30s and 40s to withdraw all their super to pay for food and rent during COVID lockdown

If the owner currently has a large mortgage over the property, then this option might be attractive - they can pay off the loan and have money ready for a deposit at any time when a suitable replacement house becomes available.

[Nort]

I feel sorry for anyone who planned on moving in the next year, no-one will want to buy the properties now they've been told they will be demolished, but also the government isn't starting buying them until late next year.

[Vasco]

I can’t be 100% certain but from what I’ve seen in the Glandore area, people can settle on their properties with the govt and stay rent free until the property is required for demo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Saltwater]

Meaning they would be cash buyers, and if they find something suitable early and move, could still rent out their previous property until the government needs it? Not a bad windfall if people can line their ducks in a row like that.

[Patrick_27]

Two questions re: all of this.

If both tunnels are to be build slightly west of South Road, what of all the thousands of houses they will go under? Surely there are surface level services required for the ongoing use of these tunnels, or is that only for cut and cover-type tunnels?

Also, what of the current South Road? The quality of South Road's road-surface and general street scape have been neglected for decades in anticipation for this project. Will the state/federal government be investing anything to ensure that South Road doesn't become a hellish barren once the high volumes of traffic are using the tunnels?