DRAINAGE AND ROAD STABILISATION HAUGHTON RIVER REALIGNMENT

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Located 40km south of Townsville, North Queensland, the Haughton River floodplain is part of the 15-year Bruce Highway Upgrade Program, a $12.6 billion program of works to improve safety, flood resilience and capacity along the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Cairns.

On average, this section of the Bruce Highway closes every 1-2 years due to flooding that significantly affects locals, tourists, transport operators, and other motorists.

Due to flood water regularly topping over the existing, low-level bridge, a significant amount of large debris regularly builds up on the bridge after rain events.

The ingress of water into road pavements poses the most significant damage potential to any road; therefore rapid removal of this water is of the utmost importance.

In order to improve the safety and efficiency for road users, the upgrades need to ensure that this section of the highway can withstand major flooding events.

13.5km of the Bruce Highway will be upgraded (on the approach to, and between the bridges), in some areas on a new alignment.

In the inital phase of the project, Geofabrics was contacted to provide product solutions for the roads regarding alignment and delineation.

OUR SOLUTION

To act as a separation and filtration layer on areas of the new road alignment, Bidim was used particularly where preloading was required in the early stages of construction.

To create a delineation between the active lanes of the highway and the worksite, Tensar TriAx Geogrids were used as reinforcement in the road, in conjunction with Bidim sandbags.

PRODUCTS USED

Bidim® Green Non-Woven Geotextile

• Premium non-woven geotextile made with a combination of Australian recycled PET and virgin plastic material
• Used in the construction of roads, railways and embankments where the ground is soft and unstable
• Separates soft ground from fill material; reducing the amount of fill required, increasing the life span of the road or rail structure and cutting long-term maintenance costs

Tensar® TriAx® (TX) Triaxial Geogrid 

• The most advanced geogrid in today’s market and the result of 30 years continual innovation and development
• Outperforms conventional biaxial geogrids and substantially reduces construction time and costs
• Tensar TriAx Geogrid’s improved rib geometry and junction efficiency, greatly improves aggregate interlock and confinement – leading to improved structural performance of the mechanically stabilised layer