PROJECT HISTORY
The challenge
The existing highway forces road users to navigate a 12km low speed arterial road with 12 sets of traffic lights, a roundabout and 26 intersections.
Coffs Harbour bypass Detailed Design, New South Wales
Sustainable design solutions to improve connectivity, efficiency and safety
The solution
Our design uses digital innovations to create a sustainable, data-led solution minimising impact on biodiversity and maximising transport efficiencies.
The Impact
The bypass will provide better amenity for local communities and improved freight efficiency, traffic connectivity and enhanced flood tolerance.
12,000
vehicles (including freight traffic) will be diverted away from the town centre every day.
14km
the length of the new bypass.
12
traffic lights bypassed.
The challenge
Coffs Harbour is one of the largest urban centres on the Australian Mid North Coast, with a growing population of around 75,000. As the last section of the Pacific Highway Upgrade to be completed, it’s one of only two locations on the entire eastern corridor where the link road between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane passes through an urban area, it experiences high levels of congestion. The region is also prone to high intensity rainfall and isolated flooding. The new 14km bypass will reduce travel times, ease congestion and improve road transport efficiency for all road users while making journeys safer by significantly reducing the accident risk.
The solution
Arcadis is the Lead Designer for the Ferrovial Gamuda Joint Venture (FGJV). This major design and construction engagement includes four lanes of divided motorway and three tunnels at vital ridgelines around Coffs Harbour. Design measures ranging from drainage solutions that reduce the risk of erosion and blockage, to a pavement design that adopts lower carbon asphalt with an innovative binder to increase stiffness and resistance to fatigue, are all solutions that keep sustainability at the forefront of design and focus on aligning with both Arcadis and Transport for NSW (TfNSW) net zero targets.
The pavement design is a major innovation in sustainable design and enabled the client to make informed low carbon decisions early in the construction life cycle. By taking on a life cycle approach and considering whole-of-life environmental, social and economic factors - different designs could be compared across several sustainability criteria resulting in balanced choices for materials and supplies. After assessing a range of different options, a pavement design that reduced CO2 emissions by up to 35% was developed for the main road.
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Arcadis made a significant contribution to the Coffs Harbour bypass project with HD3 work. The methodological analysis of hydraulic aspects of the project, including modelling of cross drainage and waterway bridge structures, was crucial in assessing the project's impact on flooding and ensuring its safety. The bypass also considers the impact of rainfall and localised flooding so the highway will be constructed to convey any extreme water flows safely under the highway while safeguarding existing flood mitigation strategies, therefore enhancing the resilience of the road.
The selected route incorporates a range of measures to minimise impact on biodiversity - including impacts to koala habitats - and restore ridgelines and other areas with native forests. By working collaboratively with the client to minimise impact on design delivery, the new bypass will avoid over two hectares of wet sclerophyll rainforest where new plants species have been found.
We have also developed an overall site model for improved quality and collaboration, which the client will use during construction and operation.
The impact
The bypass will ease congestion and improve the amenity of the Coffs Harbour CBD by removing around 12,000 vehicles travelling through it every day, including a significant reduction in heavy goods vehicles and freight traffic moving through the town. Motorists will avoid up to 12 sets of traffic lights with travel time effectively cut by 12 minutes. Local road users will also benefit as the new section will complement the existing transport network by providing an additional route for some local trips.
The new route will improve safety for all road users along the existing Pacific Highway and make the CBD a more viable place to visit, shop and work. Thanks to extensive experience and learnings from the delivery of five previous sections of the Pacific Highway upgrade over the last decade, we have been able to help the Australian and New South Wales Governments maximize benefits for all road users and the surrounding community. Journeys will be easier, faster and safer, all while supporting local community welfare and the preservation of the environment.