Great Eastern Highway Upgrade, Australia

The Great Eastern Highway is a 595km long main road that connects Perth and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The highway was built in the 1890s and mostly funded by the federal government due to its national strategic importance.

The road is managed by Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA), a Western Australian Government agency that is responsible for enforcing the state's policies on road access and main roads.

A 4.2km section of the highway between Kooyong Road in Rivervale and Tonkin Highway in Redcliffe is currently being upgraded from a four line to six lane dual carriageway to increase capacity and improve efficiency and safety for motorists.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the project was held in June 2011 in the presence of Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister and State Minister for Transport.

Major construction work on the project is expected to start in the last quarter of 2011 with completion scheduled by end of 2013.

Great Eastern Highway upgrade project

The highway between Kooyong Road and Tonkin Highway had been operating beyond its capacity, especially during peak traffic hours. This had led to rise in serious crash rates, almost double that of the state average. To address these issues, the government had ordered to upgrade this section from existing four lane to six lane dual carriageway.

In addition to widening the highway, the project involves construction of a central median with U-turn facilities at key locations for the full length of the project.

Dedicated turning movements will be included by upgrading all major intersections, bus priority lanes will be incorporated into key intersections and on-road cycling facilities and footpaths will be constructed.

An intelligent transport system will be implemented on the upgraded road. The system will be connected to the Main Roads Traffic Operations Centre by fibre optic cabling.

Project financing and funds

The A$300m project is being jointly funded by the Federal and State Governments. Stage one (Kooyong Road to Hardey Road) of the project is estimated to cost A$225m. The funding for this stage has already been secured, with the Federal Government providing A$180m and the State Government contributing A$45m.

Further funding for stage two (from Hardey Road to Tonkin Highway) is anticipated to be made available through a joint funding arrangement between the two governments.

Design and construction of the Western Australia's highway upgrade project

The design for the project has been carried out since November 2010 and was 85% complete by early September 2011. The project has been divided into 14 zones.

The zones will be completed and delivered in stages in order to minimise the amount of time spent in particular areas.

Bus priority lanes are to be incorporated on the approach and departure at each of the five major signalised intersections on the highway between Kooyong Road and Tonkin Highway. The width of these lanes will be 3.5m and the average length will be about 170m.

The west and east bound roadways of the highway will be incorporated with an additional 3m wide paved verge for pedestrians.

Hexagonal precast pavers and stone setts of various sizes and colours are expected to be used for the construction of the footpath. Footpaths between the existing footpath and pavers will be constructed using in-situ concrete.

The 4.2km upgraded highway will also comprise a dedicated 1.5m wide on-road cycle lane which will be coloured to differentiate from the roadways.

The Great Eastern Highway Upgrade project is expected to become the first major project in Western Australia to use recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). RAP will be laid in various layers of the full depth asphalt pavement.

Contractors involved in the Great Eastern Highway Upgrade project

The highway upgrade project is being undertaken by MRWA in association with City East Alliance (CEA). CEA is comprised of Leighton Contractors, GHD and NRW Holdings.

The design and build contract for the highway upgrade project was awarded to CEA in November 2010.