Roads & Infrastructure july 2020

JULY 2020

& INFRASTRUCTURE

MACHINERY TO KEEP MOVING

Hastings Deering highlights the importance of machinery when creating a quality road profile

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JULY 2020 CONTENTS

& INFRASTRUCTURE

COVER STORY

14 A strong foundation

Ellis Profiling is using Cat road profiling machines from Hastings Deering to achieve quality road surfaces.

PROJECT REPORT

16 M1 Queensland

Andrew Wheeler, M1 Program Lead explains the intricacies of the Daisy Hill to Eight Mile Plains project and wider M1 works.

AAPA

20 AAPA Article

Executive Director of Technology and Leadership, Anna D’Angelo, explains the benefits of Intelligent Compaction.

23 Member profile

Craig Moss, Director, Professional Services at IPWEA Queensland discusses the importance of advancing industry skills.

ASPHALT IN ACTION

24 Strong relationships

Roads & Infrastructure speaks to two Wirtgen partners about their machinery and the strength of their relationships with the supplier.

26 Hybrid Binder

SAMI Bitumen’s Iulian Man details the company’s new hybrid binder, SAMIfalt I-Brid, created in partnership with RMIT University.

28 Future is foam

Hiway Stabilisers looks back on its work over the past decade to develop and perfect its foamed bitumen road construction technique.

TECH & EQUIPMENT

30 Q-FE Road Ant

Quality Fabrications and Engineering details its dual control aggregate spreader designed to meet VicRoads future forward moving requirements.

32 Excavation excellence

The new suite of John Deere excavators are now available in Australia for use on a wide range of construction projects.

34 Paving on the move

Astec has introduced the Carlson CP100 II and CP130 pavers to the Australian market.

36 A green focus

CIBER Equipment details the technology in its iNOVA asphalt plants that offers fuel savings and emission reductions.

INFRASTRUCTURE IN FOCUS 38 Australian recycled product

Geofabrics is recycling plastic bottles into geotextile materials for use within major infrastructure projects.

40 Industry Survey

Roads & Infrastructure’s publisher Prime Creative Media has conducted a survey of the road construction industry to assess the effects of the coronavirus on operations.

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

42 200 million bottles

Alex Fraser’s Clarinda recycling facility is boosting its capacity to keep up with demand for recycled materials on Victoria’s infrastructure projects.

44 Infrastructure Victoria

The organisation is recommending a $1 billion overhaul of the waste sector in the state, which would increase regional recycling capabilities.

46 Recycled First

A look at the Recycled First program which aims to bring a unified approach to the use of recycled materials on infrastructure projects.

CONTRACTS AND TENDERS

50 Contracts in brief

Roads & Infrastructure provides an update on some of the contracts and tenders recently awarded or put to market across the Australian infrastructure sector.

REGULARS 04 Editor’s note 06 News Robinson Civil Group uses Wirtgen machinery for many of its projects.

roadsonline.com.au

3

NEWS

INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA LAUNCHES RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN During National Reconciliation Week, Infrastructure Australia released its first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

The document will serve as a public commitment to the national reconciliation movement and was developed in partnership with Reconciliation Australia.

It outlines the organisation’s commitment, over the next year to learning as an organisation, exploring partnerships and enabling staff to take practical, actionable steps to contribute to reconciliation.

Reflect RAP, is hoped to help Infrastructure Australia develop its knowledge base and strengthen its advice in areas that have an effect on quality of life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In its introduction to the plan, Infrastructure Australia says it will work to establish the organisation as a trusted partner of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. “We look forward to establishing strong, mutually beneficial relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partners who can help us to innovate and deliver better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” the organisation said.

Infrastructure Australia acknowledged that in preparing for the future of infrastructure,

Infrastructure Australia says it will work to establish the organisation as a trusted partner of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

it recognised the importance of learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique history of land management and settlement, art, culture and society. In the plan Romilly Madew, CEO of Infrastructure Australia states, in her message of commitment, that across the country Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations

are developing innovative solutions to improve local quality-of-life outcomes.

“As an independent advisor, committed to the promotion of best practice, we look to these innovative solutions that deliver on community need,” she said. “We are grateful for the relationships we have grown in the development of this RAP and for those yet to come.”

NSW ADDS $3B COMMITMENT TO CREATE $100B INFRASTRUCTURE JOBS PIPELINE The NSW Government has committed $3 billion to its Infrastructure and Job Acceleration Fund. New funding will be used for smaller, ready-to-go jobs across the state. It is hoped the fund will provide an extra 20 thousand jobs for the NSW workforce.

The State Government has also decided not to proceed with the refurbishment of Stadium Australia, which will allow them to redirect $800 million towards the fund. It said the Stadium Australia rebuild was a sensible project backed by the people in the 2019 election, but in the current health and economic climate 6

ROADS JULY 2020

it no longer made sense. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said infrastructure would provide a path to employment, and economic recovery, firing up the economy.

“This guaranteed pipeline of $100 billion will be our best chance supporting the hundreds of thousands of people who have already lost their jobs in NSW,” Ms. Berejiklian said. As part of the fund the Parramatta Powerhouse Museum will still be delivered. This project is expected to create more than 1100 construction jobs in Western Sydney and 2400 indirect jobs.

The government is also looking at more options to support the arts community

at Ultimo. Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the fast-tracking of projects would support jobs across the entire state and the government was in the process of identifying them. “The communities of NSW have been through an incredibly tough period with continued drought, horrific bushfires and now COVID-19 and the best path to recovery is creating jobs,” Mr. Barilaro said. “An unprecedented crisis calls for an unprecedented recovery and redirecting funding from Stadium Australia to job-creating infrastructure builds is the right thing to do for the people of NSW,” he said.

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7

NEWS

CONSTRUCTION TO START THIS YEAR ON WESTERN SYDNEY AIRPORT RAIL LINE The Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport line includes six proposed metro stations.

The Federal and NSW Governments have committed a further $3.5 billion to the Western Sydney Airport rail line under a new agreement.

Construction is set to begin this year on the $11 billion project, which will service the greater Western Sydney region in time for the opening of Western Sydney International Airport in 2026.

The Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport line includes six proposed metro railway stations; • Two stations within the airport site, at the airport terminal and at the airport business park; • A station serving the commercial heart of the Western Sydney Aerotropolis; • A station at St Marys, interchanging with the existing suburban railway station and connecting customers with the rest of Sydney’s rail system; • A station at Orchard Hills; and • A station at Luddenham to service a future education, innovation and commercial precinct.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the investment was a further demonstration of the government’s commitment to transform Western Sydney into an economic and jobs powerhouse. “It also demonstrates our partnership approach 8

ROADS JULY 2020

to creating jobs with the New South Wales Government. Working with state governments on bringing forward and investing even more in major infrastructure projects is central to our JobMaker plan to restore our economy,” Mr. Morrison said.

“Construction is already well underway on the airport, and later this year works will start on this new Metro service which will link the suburbs of Western Sydney to the rest of Sydney.” The Prime Minister said getting work started on this and many other infrastructure projects across NSW and Australia, is critical to the federal government’s JobMaker program as the economy is rebuilt. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport was a key part of the state’s record $100 billion infrastructure pipeline. “Now more than ever we need projects that provide jobs to support families and this project is major economic stimulus right in the heart of western Sydney,” Ms. Berejiklian said. “The opportunities this mega project will provide are vital as our economy recovers from the financial impact of the COVID-19.”

Western Sydney Airport Chair Paul O’Sullivan said construction of the airport and its supporting road and rail projects

was set to inject $20 billion worth of new infrastructure into the Western Sydney region. “Western Sydney International is a once-in-a-generation project that is already proving to be the catalyst for the transformation of Western Sydney,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport will not only ensure that the airport is connected to the city’s rail network, it will complement the airport’s ability to create economic growth and opportunities for the region, creating jobs for the people of Western Sydney and providing new ways for people to get around.” Mr. O’Sullivan said the new tollfree M12 motorway will help to ensure the airport is connected to Sydney’s motorway network and give passengers a choice for arrival at the airport. “For the first time in Sydney, Western Sydney International will provide airlines and passengers with a choice about which airport they want to use.”

The Sydney Metro, Western Sydney Airport is being funded equally by the Federal and New South Wales Governments under the Western Sydney City Deal.

The $5.3 billion Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport is funded by the Federal Government. ­­

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NEWS

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ROADS JULY 2020

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NEWS

INSTANT ASSET WRITE-OFF EXTENDED AHEAD OF JOBKEEPER REVIEW OUTCOMES The Federal Government is continuing its support for small business by announcing the $150,000 instant asset write-off will be extended for another six months, to 31 December 2020. Australian businesses with annual turnover of less than $500 million will be able to take advantage of the support to invest in assets that will aid business as the economy reopens and COVID-19 restrictions are eased.

The government expects these measures to aid over 3.5 million businesses. The instant asset write-off is designed to help businesses stick to planned investments and encourage fast tracking investment to support economic growth in the near term.

The threshold applies on a per asset basis, so eligible businesses can immediately write-off multiple assets provided each cost less than $150,000. Assets can be new or second hand and could include a truck for a delivery business among many other things. Legislative changes will be made to give effect to this measure, which is estimated to have a cost to revenue of $300 million over the forward estimates period. In addition, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has confirmed the outcomes of Treasury’s wage subsidy review will be provided on 23 July 2020. Following the

The instant asset write-off is designed to help businesses stick to planned investments.

announcement of a transitional agreement for the childcare sector in regards to JobKeeper, in a doorstop interview at Meccania Engineering in NSW, Mr. Frydenberg would not confirm or deny if JobKeeper would be wound back for other sectors. He pointed out JobKeeper is legislated until September and highlighted the National Cabinet’s three stage process of easing restrictions which Treasury forecast to see 850,000 people back in

work. When asked by a journalist whether some sectors have bounced back in demand earlier than expected he pointed to construction, mining and agriculture.

“Well construction is one sector where we’re starting to see more activity. Mining has been working effectively through the crisis and again strong demand for our exports hast been reflected in commodity prices. We’ve also seen agriculture be another sector,” Mr. Frydenberg said.

PM ANNOUNCES $1.5B FOR SMALL PROJECTS, FAST-TRACKS 15 MAJOR PROJECTS The Prime Minister announced, in a speech at the national press club, $1.5 billion in funding will be allocated to smaller priority projects. Funding will go to projects that are ready-to-go, with $500 million reserved specifically for road safety works. Scott Morrison said this is an important opportunity to make our roads safer right across the country, not just in rural and regional areas where it is critically important but also in other parts of the country. Specific projects to be funded will be announced soon.

Mr. Morrison also addressed the Federal Government’s determination to speed up

and improve the approvals process for infrastructure projects. “One area in which the Commonwealth has a direct regulatory role for relevant projects is through approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

According to departmental estimates, delays associated with these approvals alone cost industry over $300 million just in 2019. That’s not good enough,” Mr. Morrison said. He said the Federal Government has already moved towards reducing approval times under the EPBC Act, with projects approvals now only taking 40 days compared with 90 at the end of 2019. It

was then announced that a list of 15 major projects had been fast-tracked for approval under a bilateral model between the Federal Government, states and territories. “Joint assessment teams will work on accelerating these projects worth more than $72 billion in public and private investment. Projects that will support over 66,000 direct and indirect jobs,” Mr. Morrison said. He said jobs on these projects would be brought to market earlier by targeting a 50 per cent reduction in federal assessment and approval times for major projects. This would be from an average of 3.5 years to 21 months. roadsonline.com.au

11

NEWS

CENTRAL QUEENSLAND JOBS BOOSTED BY $1.4B ROAD BUILDING INVESTMENT A $1.4 billion road building boom is being delivered by the Queensland Government to support more than 1500 jobs. The state government has committed $50 billion over four years as part of the Unite and Recover for Queensland Jobs plan.

In a visit to Rockhampton, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the region would play a pivotal role in the state’s economic recovery. “Our focus now is on getting our economy back up and running and delivering critical infrastructure projects that support local jobs,” Ms. Palaszczuk said. The $50 billion commitment includes a pipeline of road upgrades in central Queensland, including the Rocky Ring Road which will be the largest road project in the region’s history. “It’s not just the construction sector but the businesses that support these projects, the whole supply chain, that play an essential role in leading that economic recovery,” she says. Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said Central Queensland was in line to benefit from a solid pipeline of major roads

investment. “The upgrades we’re delivering in Rockhampton today on the Bruce and Capricorn highways are already sustaining hundreds of jobs,” Mr. Bailey said. He said 70 per cent of the workforce on the Bruce Highway upgrade north is local, involving 16 local businesses.

“That guarantees income for local earthmoving and crane hire businesses, for traffic managers and landscapers, for local quarries and fencing companies.”

Member for Rockhampton Barry O’Rourke said jointly-funded projects like the $14.5 million Bajool-Port Alma Road upgrade and the $19 million investment in new overtaking lanes on the Capricorn Highway from Rockhampton to Emerald were also underway. “These two important road upgrade projects alone are supporting almost 120 local jobs for Central Queensland,” Mr. O’Rourke said. “Last month, the Queensland Government also pledged $35 million to duplicate Lawrie Street and fix the bottleneck there, so that’s another project we’ll see coming online in the future.”

Central Queensland road and transport projects underway are: • Rockhampton Northern Access Upgrade $157 million – 425 jobs • Capricorn Highway-Rockhampton to Gracemere Duplication $75 million – 187 jobs • Road train access to Rockhampton abattoirs: Rockhampton-Emu Park Road $20 million • Bajool-Port Alma Road upgrade 14.5 million – 59 jobs • Capricorn Highway overtaking lanes $19 million – 60 jobs Projects in planning include: • Rockhampton Ring Road $1 billion – almost 800 jobs • Bruce Highway – Rockhampton Intersections Upgrade $4.95 million planning project • Lawrie Street upgrade $35 million – 56 jobs • Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road upgrade $80 million staged upgrades

CONTRACTORS COMPLETE $392M M1 PACIFIC MOTORWAY UPGRADES Tuggerah and Doyalson is the last section to be completed in a suite of upgrades to the M1 Pacific Motorway. Three lanes in the section were opened over the weekend to speeds of 110 kilometres per hour. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack said the completion of the upgrade would mean safer and more efficient journeys for thousands of motorists.

“We have crossed the finish line on the Australian and NSW Government’s $391.6 million M1 upgrade, which will help people reach their destinations sooner and safer on one of Australia’s busiest roads,” Mr. McCormack said. The Kariong to Somersby section of the motorway also recently opened to traffic, meaning cars can now 12

ROADS JULY 2020

The three NSW M1 projects had at least 70 per cent local employment.

travel along all three lanes through these sections. NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said the M1 Productivity Package had created about 2700 jobs in its delivery and was part of the NSW Government’s record $100 billion infrastructure pipeline. “The M1 upgrades have delivered on average nearly 400 direct

and indirect jobs every year since it started.

About 75 per cent of the jobs on the upgrade between Tuggerah and Doyalson have gone to locals from the Central Coast and Hunter areas, which shows just how serious we are about investment in regional NSW,” Mr. Toole said.

Construction on the Tuggerah to Doyalson section was completed by CBP Contractors, from August 2017 through to June 2020. Fulton Hogan completed the works from Kariong to Somersby, between April 2018 and May 2020. Finally, Georgiou Group completed the Weakleys Drive and John Renshaw Drive intersection at Beresfield with construction between April 2018 and March 2019.

All of these projects had at least 70 per cent local employment.

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process provides the required high level of control around foam bitumen materials manufacture and the final product is then either stockpiled at the quarry for collection or delivered to a single, or multiple, sites, which offers a better value proposition for Clients that require varying tonnages throughout the month.

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Plant-mixed foam bitumen stabilised base provides a structurally sound pavement that has proven to be resilient particularly in areas of regular flooding and inundation.

In recent years plant-mixed foamed bitumen has been successfully used for both new construction with new quarry materials and for rehabilitation projects using existing pavement materials which are sometimes blended with new materials. Hiway Stabilizers have substantial experience with an in-house pavement design capability, who will work with you to optimise the pavement layers and approach to suit your budget and pavement performance requirements.

PLANT-MIXED FOAM BITUMEN PROCESS

The materials to be bound are loaded continuously into the manufacturing plant at a rate to meet the production volumes. Attached to the plant are storage for bitumen and the secondary stabilisation agent. These are metered by the plant controls into the pugmill mixing chamber at the rate required to meet the mix design parameters. The manufactured material is conveyed directly into trucks for transport to site where they are placed either by paving machine or by grader and then compacted using conventional asphalt compaction equipment. Alternatively, the manufactured material may be stockpiled for later use.

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The PM620 features a C18 Cat engine, designed by Caterpillar.

ROAD BUILDING WITH A

STRONG FOUNDATION AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROCESSES, ROAD PROFILING MACHINES ARE ESSENTIAL TO ACHIEVING A SMOOTH SURFACE FOR ASPHALT. HASTINGS DEERING EXPLAINS WHY TECHNOLOGY, PRECISION AND SERVICE SUPPORT ARE KEY TO CREATING A QUALITY ROAD PROFILE.

S

imilar to icebergs, there is so much more to a road pavement than what the driver sees on top.

Laying out a strong foundation for a road pavement is critical to ensure the pavement is smooth and level, giving drivers a safe surface to move upon.

As each road comes to the end of its life, its replacement with a new stronger pavement begins by getting rid of the old one.

The industry has used road profiling machines to remove pavements for decades. As technology enables increased precision and productivity and the ability to recycle pavement materials becomes more attractive, road profilers have grown in popularity.

Greg Ellis from Ellis Profiling in Queensland entered the road industry about 30 years ago. While working for an original equipment manager (supplier OEM) he saw an opportunity to start an operational business and began Ellis Profiling in 1997.

“Profiling is the core of our business, most of our customers rely on contractors 14

ROADS JULY 2020

to do road profiling works because it’s a specialised area of road construction,” Mr. Ellis says.

“It’s expensive equipment and the technology changes frequently so contracting in experts for profiling jobs can be more efficient.”

In total, Ellis Profiling has 18 different road profiling machines of varying sizes.

we thought the availability of Cat service people across the state was important,” Mr. Ellis says.

“The machine is working regularly, and we need to know that we can get the machine back up and running when and if we need it.”

As he was happy with the first machine, Mr. Ellis recently purchased a second road profiling machine from Hastings Deering,

“THE TECHNOLOGY ON THE CAT MACHINE ALLOWS US TO MILL OUT HUMPS IN THE ROAD WITH A LEVELLING SYSTEM CALLED SONIC-SKI, WHICH LEVELS OUT ABOUT EIGHT METRES.” Two years ago, Mr. Ellis was looking for a new machine and after extensive research decided to purchase a Cat profiling machine from Hastings Deering.

One of the deciding factors for Mr. Ellis was the level of service Hastings Deering offered alongside the profiler.

“The machine was mechanically sound, the technology is up to date, the warranty was impressive and as we will have the machine working in rural Queensland,

the Cat PM620.

“We are able to cut a profile surface from zero to 330 millimetres deep with the PM620. We are also able to mix or pulverise material and leave it on site,” he says.

“The technology on the Cat machine allows us to mill out humps in the road with a levelling system called Sonic-Ski, which levels out about eight metres.”

The Cat PM620 also has the ability to use GPS levelling systems to cut automatically,

COVER STORY

based on the pavement design inputs.

“Productivity is a big positive with this machine as the technology allows works to progress quickly. The ability to recycle was a big factor for us and the precise levelling measurements are also very important,” Mr. Ellis says.

Ryan Van Den Broek, Sales Manager at Hastings Deering says the big draw card for the PM620 is its production capability.

“It features a powerful C18 Cat engine.

Because the engine and machine are both designed by Caterpillar, the engines are modified to get the best output for each different type of machine,” Mr. Van Den Broek says.

For operator comfort the canopy on these machines has been designed to provide quality sun protection but also to fold up and down during operation, which ensures it does not impact on visibility.

The grade control interface featured on the PM620 is one technology Mr. Van Den Broek says is particularly impressive.

“The levelling system runs on the side plate near the drum, or you can have front and rear sensors, which will give you an average level by taking out all of lumps and bumps on a surface,” he says.

“The smoothest possible base will produce the best possible road on top.

Road projects are judged on smoothness

“PRODUCTIVITY IS A BIG POSITIVE WITH THIS MACHINE AS THE TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS WORKS TO PROGRESS QUICKLY. THE ABILITY TO RECYCLE WAS A BIG FACTOR FOR US AND THE PRECISE LEVELLING MEASUREMENTS ARE ALSO VERY IMPORTANT.” and rideability, so it’s important to get the levelling right.”

The machine also features other technology such as a grading slope system, ramp in/out and obstacle jump capabilities.

“If you want to cut down 100 millimetres over a length of 10 metres, the grading slope system will program this and do it automatically,” Mr. Van Den Broek says.

“Then if there is an obstacle such as a manhole, the operator will lift the machine over the hole and once it is passed everything will return to where it was ready to continue cutting. All with a single button push” For Hastings Deering, the company’s support capabilities have proven to be one of the most important features to accompany the machinery.

“We are really just starting to work with Hastings Deering, and its going really well,” Mr. Ellis says. “That is why we bought the second machine. If there are any technical issues, I can call the representatives at any time.”

“The biggest thing we understand is that

we have to provide a point of difference,” Mr. Van Den Broek says.

“So we leverage our service footprint and dealership footprint, ensuring we have lots of people on the ground.”

He says that with all Cat machines, Hastings Deering provides comprehensive training either with experts from Australia or by flying in representatives from America.

“After machine set up, we have technical representatives for each and every product.

If there are ever any issues contractors can get in touch with the representative and we will help them out as quickly as possible,” Mr. Van Den Broek says.

“This is especially important with companies that service jobs across the state. In Queensland we have got the hub with all of the main technical information but can provide service anywhere with our technicians.”

Ellis Profiling bought its very first Cat PM620 two years ago and since then Hastings Deering has sold more models in Queensland and even have one in operation in Papua New Guinea.

Ellis Profiling has been performing works since 1997.

roadsonline.com.au

15

CHARGING AHEAD

WITH THE M1 EIGHT MILE PLAINS TO DAISY HILL IS ONE PART OF THE M1 PACIFIC MOTORWAY WORKS. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS SOUTH COAST DEPUTY REGIONAL DIRECTOR, ANDREW WHEELER, EXPLAINS HOW THE PROJECT IS COMING TOGETHER.

A

s one of Australia’s busiest roads, upgrades and widening works are being undertaken on the Pacific Motorway all the way from New South Wales right into Brisbane.

The future of the M1 looks bright with Federal and State projects including the $1 billion Varsity Lakes to Tugun and the $750 million Eight Mile Plans to Daisy Hill upgrades kicking off this year.

This funding came on top of the projects already agreed with the Federal Government including the recently completed $218.5 million Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes and the $195.3 million M1-M3 Gateway Merge upgrades.

Following extensive planning Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill, the second step in the upgrade between the Gateway and Logan, has progressed from a business case to the start of construction.

With an expected completion date of late 2024, Andrew Wheeler, Department of Transport and Main Roads South Coast Deputy Regional Director, explains the 16

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intricacies of the Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill project and wider M1 works.

The M1 works are split into sections, all being delivered separately. The M1 program team also decided to further divide these sections with individual packages to make up each section of work.

The eight-kilometre Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill section will be upgraded in four different packages. The first will cover the section from Sports Drive to Gateway Motorway and package two is an early works package for the upgrade of the old Pacific Highway. Package three will see upgrades from Watland Street to Sports Drive, and the final package will build the new Rochdale Bus Station park and ride section and a dedicated busway alignment.

“Unlike other major infrastructure projects, that can be made up of one large design and construct package, we have broken it up into four packages,” Mr. Wheeler says.

The focus for Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill in 2020 will be the first two packages.

Construction has already begun on package one and construction will start shortly on the Pacific Highway early works package.

Both are scheduled to be complete by late 2021.

Completion of the first two packages will lay the foundation for packages three and four, which are scheduled to commence in 2021 and 2023 respectivley and be completed by the middle to end of 2024.

“Package one for us is a large project but it sets up the remainder of the project there.

Being in an urban environment, we have to get package one and two completed so we can seamlessly roll into projects further south and the busway,” Mr. Wheeler says.

Construction in a brownfield environment is one of the project’s major challenges Mr. Wheeler highlights.

“We have the issue of well over 150,000 vehicles on average daily. So, trying to upgrade a motorway alignment within that corridor, with urban environments on either side, is quite challenging,” he says.

This was one of the reasons the project

PROJECT REPORT

Upgrades and widening works are being undertaken on the Pacific Motorway.

The eight-kilometre Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill section will be upgraded in four packages.

“WE LOOK TO SIGN UP AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO OUR LOCALISED TRAFFIC EMAIL UPDATES AND SMS ALERTS. THIS SENDS OUT INFORMATION IN ADVANCE AS TO THOSE KEY ACTIVITIES, TO ALLOW MOTORISTS TO PLAN THEIR JOURNEY AND RESIDENTS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE AREA.” was set up in packages, as the design could be done early for the first two packages and the project team anticipated that would set up the rest of the works well.

Mr. Wheeler notes that presenting the Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill project with multiple design and construct contracts came with its own hurdles. With multiple design packages and designers, it was really important teams could work together and integrate ideas.

“We worked closely with design consultants, ensuring that we had a lot of integration and collaboration meetings and used certain software collaboration tools.

This way we were able to confidently share design matrixes and models across each of the design packages,” he says.

“It was definitely something we identified as a risk. I have to credit industry there, they worked really closely with their colleagues and were able to deliver an excellent outcome.”

Mr. Wheeler says due to the brownfield environment of the M1 projects, noise is a key consideration for works and Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill is no different.

“Managing noise related impacts is something that Transport and Main Roads Queensland takes extremely seriously. This is why the department is governed by the Transport Noise Management Code of Practice; which in turn is managed by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection,” he says.

“The code sets out key guidelines and processes for us to manage noise on road infrastructure projects.”

To mitigate the effects of noise, the M1 project team worked closely with the contractor during the development of their proposal and onsite management plans.

Mr. Wheeler says this confirms there is a detailed noise and vibration management plan on each project.

“We ensure they are looking at strategies

and processes to complete high impact or high-volume work during day hours to minimise night noise,” Mr. Wheeler says.

“This can be challenging in these locations, noting that we have the complete inverse requirement around traffic volumes which means we can only do limited daytime closures and a lot of night works.”

He says as a solution the scheduling of high impact work is investigated to see if the team can complete tasks offline during the day or consider performing those works in the early evening to best accommodate local residents.

“We also use detection and noise monitoring devices to ensure the contractor is complying with its noise and vibration management plan in line with what they expected the limits to be,” Mr. Wheeler says.

Communication has been a key component to the Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill project. Ensuring local residents and businesses are aware noise impacts well in advance, so they can plan accordingly, is an important ongoing consideration for the project.

“We look to sign up as many people as possible to our localised traffic email updates and SMS alerts. This sends out roadsonline.com.au

17

With an average of 150,000 vehicles per day traffic management was a huge consideration.

information in advance as to those key activities, to allow motorists to plan their journey and residents to understand what is happening in the area,” Mr. Wheeler says.

The design and construction teams also consider whether it is feasible to place permanent noise barriers in the final position, prior to the reminder of construction taking place.

“Noise in urbanised environments is a significant issue but we do try to work closely with everyone involved to get the right outcome,” he says.

With construction set to span years and an average of 150,000 vehicles travelling along the Eight Mile Plains section of the M1 each day, traffic management was also a huge consideration.

“The standard approach we take is that we need to keep traffic moving during construction projects. One of the key things we include as part of our traffic management requirements is ensuring the speed limits are set at a reasonable standard,” Mr. Wheeler says.

On the M1, it is important for contractors to ensure the speed limits are set at a consistent level for a motorway alignment. This can often be around 80 kilometres per hour but can be lowered if necessary.

Mr. Wheeler says it was also important 18

ROADS JULY 2020

to keep as many lanes open as possible. If short term closures were required the team would try to schedule this for night works, or in some cases consider building a sidetrack alignment.

He says similarly to noise disruption, communication was a key consideration for traffic management.

“It’s really about getting out there and explaining to the community what our constraints are as part of that project and ensuring we let them know in timely manner if there are going to be traffic impacts across the duration of the project. What we want to avoid is unexpected impacts and traffic issues for motorists,” he says.

From an environmental perspective the Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill project, along with the section of works from Varsity Lakes to Tugun, is registered for an Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) rating scheme.

Both sections have a minimum goal of achieving an excellent rating across the design and construction phases, which will reflect excellent work in many areas of sustainability.

“The Department has a key goal there to make the projects as sustainable as possible.

The M1 north and south are charging ahead to track down that excellent rating under

those schemes,” Mr. Wheeler says.

“There are such a broad range of elements when you look at sustainability, a lot of times it could be around the environmental impact but it’s a lot larger than that so it’s a key focus for us.”

Though completion of the project is still years away, it is expected these upgrades will improve travel time and reliability while also providing targeted impacts for other modes of transport such as cycling or buses.

“Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill will hit three key components for us, it’s going to improve active transport connectivity, increase and improve public transport options to join to the new Rochdale bus station park ‘n’ ride and extend the busway down to Springwood. Then on the road network we are going to have significantly improved travel times and reliability as well as improved safety that goes with reduced congestion and faster peak travel,” Mr. Wheeler says.

“This project is moving away from traditional thinking of just improving the road for user of the car. It is looking at getting a fully integrated infrastructure upgrade that targets all groups of moving people along that corridor. We are excited to be getting out on the ground and getting construction moving.”

Join our

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM COURSES www.aapa.asn.au/course-registration

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CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM: INTELLIGENT COMPACTION THE AUSTRALIAN ASPHALT PAVEMENT ASSOCIATION’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY AND LEADERSHIP, ANNA D’ANGELO, EXPLAINS THE BENEFITS OF INTELLIGENT COMPACTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF USING THE TECHNOLOGY TO PRODUCE QUALITY PAVEMENTS.

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he Australian flexible pavement industry is committed to continual improvement of flexible pavement construction outcomes.

The peak body for the industry, Australian Asphalt Pavement Association (AAPA) supports the use of innovative and smart technology to improve the quality and consistency of the delivered product. One such example of an innovative technology is the Intelligent Compaction system.

Over the past few decades, Intelligent Compaction systems have been developed to enable increased quality when applied to asphalt compaction.

Internationally, the use of Intelligent Compaction technology in pavement construction is growing and 33 American states have implemented Intelligent Compaction specifications for asphalt paving.

BENEFITS OF INTELLIGENT COMPACTION Intelligent Compaction refers to the compaction of road materials using modern vibratory rollers that are equipped with an in-situ measurement system and feedback control.

For asphalt, this includes the use of vibratory rollers with an integrated response measurement system, a global positioning system, a software that automates documentation of the results and on-board computer display.

This can be combined with infrared temperature sensors to track the surface temperature.

There are several well documented benefits of Intelligent Compaction for asphalt.

Firstly, it can improve uniformity and density which leads to quality asphalt performance.

Secondly, it can also lead to improved efficiency during the compaction process.

Compaction is one of the most important processes in roadway construction.

It can be used to achieve high quality and uniformity of pavement materials.

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ROADS JULY 2020

In addition, Intelligent Compaction can improve documentation of the compaction process providing improved process control records and has the potential to reduce compliance testing.

AAPA recognises this technology can offer the opportunity to achieve lower construction costs with increased pavement durability and saw a need to further develop industry knowledge of the fundamental concepts of Intelligent Compaction.

To address this need, AAPA organised its first Virtual Master Class bringing international experts from the USA to offer access to their knowledge and experience.

For the Virtual Master Class, an interactive forum linked to experts such as George Chang, from Transtec, Prof. Nazarian from the University of Texas and Rebecca Embacher from Minnesota Department of Transport.

These industry experts provided an

update on the recent developments of the technology and shared their journeys in the implementation of Intelligent Compaction.

Dr. Jeffrey Lee from ARRB also shared an update on the National Asset Centre of Excellence (NACOE) research project, carried out to facilitate the implementation of Intelligent Compaction in Queensland.

Hands on training was facilitated through the masterclass. This included training on the Veta software, which is one of the data management and analysis platforms for Intelligent Compaction. This is an essential part of the system allowing the user to import data from various Intelligent Compaction machines. This way the user can perform viewing, filtering, spot test imports, and analysis.

Veta 6 is the latest software release with comprehensive viewing and analysis capabilities for intelligent construction data that provides additional features to previous versions.

The association will continue to offer training to agencies and industry personnel on how to practically use and implement the technology as well as to manage and analyse the data collected.

BACKGROUND Compaction is one of the most important processes in roadway construction. It can be used to achieve high quality and uniformity of pavement materials to ensure durability.

Achieving uniformity is the key for successful compaction.

Traditionally a random distribution of in-situ spot tests or core tests are performed but these may not provide a full representation of the pavement area and may not be able to identify weak areas. Consequently, this may lead to variable or unsatisfactory compaction causing premature failure and reduced life performance.

The integration of measurement, documentation, and control systems for Intelligent Compaction allows realtime monitoring and correction of the compaction process. These systems are available from major compaction equipment suppliers and can also be retrofitted to existing rollers.

Intelligent Compaction rollers can continuously record the number of roller passes, roller-integrated Intelligent

USING INTELLIGENT COMPACTION, CONTRACTORS AND ROAD AGENCIES CAN MEASURE REAL-TIME MATERIAL PROPERTIES DURING COMPACTION AND REPORT EVERYTHING FROM THE FIELD. PRE-MAPPING THE EXISTING SUPPORT LAYERS PRIOR TO ASPHALT PAVING CAN ALSO HELP IDENTIFY ANY SOFT SPOTS. IT ALLOWS USERS TO MAKE CORRECTIVE ACTIONS PRIOR TO ASPHALT CONSTRUCTION, ADDRESSING ANY POTENTIAL ISSUES EARLIER.

Compaction Measurement Value (ICMV), GPS locations of the roller, roller vibration amplitudes or frequencies, and asphalt surface temperatures, providing full coverage of the compacted area.

ICMV is a term for a value which is calculated using different models and methods, based on the vertical acceleration at the centre of the vibrating roller drum.

When the roller drum applies compaction force on the material it will receive a rebound force from the compacted material.

This reacted force is captured by the accelerometer and it is processed by the computer system that calculates the ICMV. Extensive research has been done since the 1980s to generate and calibrate input to various ICMVs to measure mechanical and physical properties such as stiffness, modulus, and density of compacted layers and allow true real-time feedback system control.

This combination of construction equipment technology and data reporting helps to ensure optimum compaction and uniformity is achieved through continuous monitoring of operations. This process works to reduce compaction effort, improve sustainability, increase the durability of the pavement and reduce construction variability.

Using Intelligent Compaction, contractors and road agencies can measure real-time material properties during compaction and report everything from the field. Premapping the existing support layers prior to asphalt paving can also help identify any soft spots. It allows users to make corrective actions prior to asphalt construction, addressing any potential issues earlier.

One of the challenges AAPA has seen, that has affected the implementation of Intelligent Compaction in USA, was the incompatibility of data between systems.

Roller equipment from various suppliers measured and reported different parameters

making it challenging to compare compaction outcomes between equipment from different brands.

In the USA a single data standard is now applied, as defined in AASHTO Designation PP 81-18 Intelligent Compaction Technology for Embankment and Asphalt Pavement Applications. The equipment from all major suppliers can provide data to comply with this standard.

AASHTO PP81-18 also requires the Veta software for data management and geospatial analysis of intelligent compaction and temperature sensing results.

WHERE TO NEXT The use of Intelligent Compaction offers the opportunity to improve the effectiveness of the compaction process, achieve uniform compaction and can enable 100 per cent coverage of the asphalt construction work.

In addition, the large amount of data collected during the process can be evaluated and used for pavement management improvements.

AAPA has seen the USA develop Intelligent Compaction specifications that provide information on the system requirements, quality control requirements, training, data requirements and submission, and measures and payment.

In Queensland the Department of Transport and Main Roads has drafted Intelligent Compaction specifications for soil and asphalt and demonstration trials are scheduled to use Intelligent Compaction for asphalt quality purposes.

AAPA is collaborating with research bodies, universities, state road authorities and industry members to facilitate the implementation of Intelligent Compaction of asphalt in Australia.

The association says this has the potential to improve flexible pavement construction outcomes and at the same time reduce construction costs. roadsonline.com.au

21

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CRAIG MOSS, DIRECTOR, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AT THE INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC WORKS ENGINEERING AUSTRALASIA – QUEENSLAND (IPWEAQ) HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND CONSISTENTLY ADVANCING INDUSTRY SKILLS.

Q. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN AN AAPA MEMBER AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME ONE? A. I first became involved with AAPA in 2003 when I moved into the Engineering and Technology branch of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) Queensland. In my role, I was responsible for the professional development of engineering and technical staff involved in the planning, construction and maintenance of roads infrastructure.

I worked closely with AAPA to provide technical training in the specialist areas related to flexible pavements. The relationships I created 17 years ago are maintained to this day.

Q. HOW DID YOU START YOUR CAREER IN THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY? A. I started my career in the road construction industry by accident. My first job was as an apprentice carpenter in 1985, but when the building industry suffered a major downturn, I picked up a job as a survey assistant with the then Department of Main Roads until I could pick up my apprenticeship again. After a few years, I put myself through university to become a qualified surveyor. In 2003, I moved into a learning and development role, eventually becoming responsible for the learning and development for all technical disciplines across the Department.

Q. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT ROLE AND WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE? A. I have just celebrated my fourth year with IPWEAQ in the role of Director, Professional Services. In this role, I am responsible for: the professional development program; conferences, forums, symposia and other events; and the development and maintenance of our

Q. WHAT IS A RECENT CHANGE YOU HAVE SEEN IN THE INDUSTRY AND HOW ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THAT? A. I believe one of the biggest changes we are currently experiencing is in the area of sustainability, especially in how this relates to using recycled materials in construction products. In Queensland alone, councils operate more than 500 waste facilities including landfill sites, transfer stations and resource recovery facilities. As a sector, we need to invest in a range of mutuality complementary and coordinated solutions to assist achieve a zero-waste future.

As IPWEAQ Director, Professional Services Mr. Moss is responsible for the professional development program and more.

technical publications and products. The purpose of this is to enhance the quality of life for all our communities by advancing the skills, knowledge and resources available to those involved in the planning and provision of public works and services.

Q. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE INDUSTRY? A. I believe my biggest achievement in the road construction industry was the opportunity to positively influence the training outcomes for the traffic management sector. In my role with TMR, I was responsible for transforming the Queensland traffic control accreditation process from a half-day course into a program that required a full day theory and simulated learning, and a minimum 20 hours of in-the-workplace experience before being assessed. I was also able to collaborate with Tanja Conners at AAPA to develop the Certificate III in Civil Construction (traffic management) to provide further upskilling and a career path for those working in this sector.

Q. HOW HAS BEING A MEMBER OF AAPA BENEFITTED YOU IN THE INDUSTRY? A. Being a member of AAPA provides an opportunity to collaborate with highly experienced technical professionals who are experts in their field. As there are many disciplines within the road construction industry, it is essential that we all work together toward a common goal. I know that if I identify a need related to flexible pavements, I can tap into a network that will most likely have the solution.

Q. WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE FUTURE? A. In my four years with IPWEAQ, we have been able to increase engagement across the public works sector by providing products and services that meet the needs of our members, partners and other stakeholders. We have also identified other areas that need support. It is my goal to develop new initiatives that will further support the sector and the public works community to continue to develop in maturity and numbers. I also look forward to celebrating the continuing success of individuals and organisations within the ­sector. roadsonline.com.au

23

WITHSTANDING

THE TEST OF TIME

WIRTGEN GROUP HAS BEEN SERVICING THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA SINCE 1986. THE COMPANY WORKS CONSISTENTLY TO PROVIDE NEW MACHINERY AND TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE PROJECTS. ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE FINDS OUT MORE.

A

t the heart of Wirtgen machines is German engineering. The company strives to make continuous advancements to machine technology in order to boost productivity and efficiency across a wide range of projects.

Robinson Civil Group (RCG) is a civil construction company based in North Queensland, who has worked with Wirtgen for almost a decade.

A LONGSTANDING PARTNERSHIP RCG provides civil construction services throughout Queensland including remote and regional areas. Their modern fleet of plant with the latest machine technology

RCG now has nine Wirtgen machines, seven profilers and two stabilisers.

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ROADS JULY 2020

is based in depots from Townsville to Cape York.

Through expansion into road stabilisation RCG chose Wirtgen as their plant supplier.

Caytlyn Mead, Chief Executive Officer at RCG says when we were investigating the market for road stabilisers the Wirtgen road reclaimers were of value for us and that is where the relationship started.

Now RCG has nine Wirtgen machines in its fleet, seven profilers and two stabilisers.

“We use Wirtgen equipment to deliver projects for state and local government.

We also provide wet hire of plant mostly for government and private sector and have a large number of asphalt clients for the profiling machines,” Mrs. Mead says.

RCG saw that there was a natural transition into profiling and Wirtgen again could provide high quality options.

“In business you always compare market options and as a result of our research we have committed to a fleet of Wirtgens.

Continuing with the same technology and support is important to us and so is continuing our relationship with Wirtgen.”

Recently, RCG decided to add to their fleet by purchasing a new W210 Profiler from Wirtgen.

“When we were reviewing our

Caytlyn Mead , Chief Executive Officer at Robinson Civil Group.

upcoming program and the significant amount of work which required an additional 2 metre machine, the Wirtgen team was very responsive to our needs. We had a machine shipped to us within a week, along with someone on site commissioning the machine,” Mrs. Mead says.

“The Wirtgen team responded and we were able to continue business without disruption to our client’s programs.”

Strong relationships forged between RCG and Wirtgen have been developed through quality support and communication. Mrs. Mead said RCG has enduring relationships with Wirtgen staff and they have gone above and beyond to ensure that RCG is well serviced.

“Wirtgen staff are available to us around the clock should we need something addressed immediately,” she says.

“The team at Wirtgen always ensure parts and consumables are dispatched in a timely manner. They provide phone support and technical knowledge in addition to responding to parts requirements as we need for unexpected breakdowns. We work closely together to deliver quality

ASPHALT IN ACTION

outcomes for our clients.”

Mrs. Mead acknowledges that the relationship with Wirtgen is very important to RCG as Wirtgen machines provide the latest in technology to the civil construction industry.

FORMING SOLID FOUNDATIONS Dowsing Group is a specialised civil services business started in Western Australia in 1985. For over 30 years the company has been growing and most recently expanded to New South Wales, with the acquisition of Seovic Engineering.

Over the years, the business has used an array of machines for local and state government projects in slip forming, profiling, footpaths and civil services. However, the group’s relationship with Wirtgen has grown for four years as the company added Wirtgen machinery to its fleet.

Similarly, to RCG, Dowsing Group’s first taste of Wirtgen machinery was when it stepped into the road profiling market.

Bohdan Dowsing, Executive Director of Dowsing Group says he believes Wirtgen

has the best road profiling machines in the world.

“Through our relationship with Wirtgen, built around the profiling machines, we decided to make the switch with our slip form pavers as well and the relationship continued to grow from there,” Mr. Dowsing says.

The company now has six Wirtgen profilers and four slip form machines out of its fleet of 12 pavers across the country.

Mr. Dowsing says Seovic Engineering recently purchased a Wirtgen SP64 paver as an asset for work it is about to undertake on the M4/M5 tunnels in Sydney.

“It’s a versatile paver for its size and we already liked the back-end support we get from Wirtgen so that, coupled with the German engineering and some of the features on the paver, was a no brainer for us.”

Parts carried onshore was another important component for Dowsing Group.

Mr. Dowsing says with parts carried in Perth and Queensland they are only one day away, which might not be the case coming

from overseas.

He says Dowsing Group really enjoy the local support they get on both sides of the country from Wirtgen.

“Knowing there are parts in Australia, and I can speak to someone in Perth that is a specialist in the product is important. When we are on a major project and the machine breaks down, I can call these guys and get it sorted easily. At the end of the day all machines break down so it’s the back-end support that I really appreciate.”

No matter where its customers are located or how many Wirtgen Group machines they have Wirtgen stands by its customers to support their businesses well beyond the machine purchase itself.

Being a provider of specialist equipment enables Wirtgen to focus on providing expertise. Feet on the ground is great but pairing that with the knowledge and expertise on specialist pieces of equipment is important. That is something Wirtgen aims to excel at with a firm commitment to supporting its customers through the test of time.

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SAMIFALT I-BRID: RESEARCH MEETS INNOVATION IULIAN MAN, SAMI BITUMEN TECHNOLOGIES TECHNICAL SERVICES MANAGER, SPEAKS TO ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE ABOUT THE COMPANY’S LATEST BINDER SAMIFALT I-BRID CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH RMIT UNIVERSITY.

T

he Australian Bureau of Meteorology found that 2019 was Australia’s warmest year on record, with the national mean temperature for the year placed at 1.52 degrees Celsius above average.

Climate predictions, by the CSIRO and the Australian Government, show that this increasing trend will continue for the rest of the century. Across four major clusters, estimations show that later in the century if a high emissions scenario becomes reality, the country could see from 2.7 up to 5.3 degrees Celsius of warming.

Warming of this nature pose challenges to the road building industry. It must adapt to develop asphalt mixes that can perform under increasing temperature conditions and with increase of channelised loading expected on road surfaces with the concomitant evolution of autonomous vehicle technology.

Since its establishment more than 40 years ago, SAMI Bitumen Technologies has been continuously developing bituminous binders in order to cater to a wide range of traffic and climate conditions.

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It’s latest new generation hybrid binder, SAMIfalt I-Brid, was developed as a result of substantial research work led by Kanjana Yindee, National Laboratory and R&D Manager SAMI Bitumen Technologies. This was in partnership with Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), one of the leading universities in Australia for asphalt and bitumen technology.

Iulian Man, SAMI Bitumen Technologies Technical Services Manager, says the binder displays excellent performance over a wide range of service temperatures.

“You can use this product in very hot climates, especially in northern Australia but also in cooler climates such as Victoria or Tasmania,” Mr. Man says.

He says under hot ambient conditions the wearing course of pavements tend to

soften up and therefore there is a need for a bituminous binder that would impart deformation resistance under heavy traffic loading.

“In contrast, in cooler areas, as the pavement has a tendency to stiffen up under low temperature conditions, cracking may be a problem and therefore the binder used in the wearing course needs to be flexible and resilient” Mr. Man says.

“With I-Brid we are able to cover a very wide range of service conditions when it comes to ambient temperatures, with the binder imparting rutting resistance at high service temperatures and cracking resistance at low and intermediate temperatures.”

Essentially, the binder is a combination of innovative plastomeric and elastomeric

“WITH I-BRID WE ARE ABLE TO COVER A VERY WIDE RANGE OF SERVICE CONDITIONS WHEN IT COMES TO AMBIENT TEMPERATURES, WITH THE BINDER IMPARTING RUTTING RESISTANCE AT HIGH SERVICE TEMPERATURES AND CRACKING RESISTANCE AT LOW AND INTERMEDIATE TEMPERATURES.”

ASPHALT IN ACTION

polymers and the development team started working on the product concept around 18 months ago.

Filippo Giustozzi, Senior Lecturer, Civil and Infrastructure Engineering RMIT, worked alongside SAMI to test and create I-Brid.

He says at the very beginning the team had to identify innovative polymer groups that were also able to be mass produced, in order to cater to the large quantities needed for asphalt applications.

“In the beginning we looked at each single polymer, to determine their single actions.

The second task was then to put them together and understand the compatibility of each of the polymers and their crosslinking abilities,” Dr. Giustozzi says.

“The four polymeric pillars in I-Brid are very specific because they need to get on well with bitumen, which is not easy to deal with because its behaviour varies a lot with temperature and with frequency of loading.”

The challenge when combining the polymers was to ensure the mix created was stable and could be easily handled by any section of the road construction chain without any significant change from current products.

“We overcame this with a lot of chemo-rheological testing using different temperatures and frequencies of loading.

There was a really broad range of tests and the process took almost two years,” Dr. Giustozzi says.

He says once the correct polymers were found for the hybrid binder, each hybrid was tested alone, and the team tested around 60 different hybrid combinations.

“THE FOUR POLYMERIC PILLARS IN I-BRID ARE VERY SPECIFIC BECAUSE THEY NEED TO GET ON WELL WITH BITUMEN, WHICH IS NOT EASY TO DEAL WITH BECAUSE ITS BEHAVIOUR VARIES A LOT WITH TEMPERATURE AND WITH FREQUENCY OF LOADING.”

“Rheological testing was performed on the hybrid binders, and this was good because we could easily change the temperature and frequency of loading. We tested from 0-5 degrees all the way up to 90-95 degrees Celsius,” Dr. Giustozzi says.

“That is the beauty of this binder because we didn’t want it to just be good at high temperatures, we wanted the binder to also be very good at a very high temperature while providing low stiffness at 25 degrees Celsius,” he explains.

In phase two the team also conducted significant performance testing on asphalt mixes produced with the I-Brid binder which included, fatigue tests, rutting tests with a wheel tracking machine to test for moisture damage and fuel resistance tests.

He says the team ensured that the asphalt was tested across the full spectrum of temperatures under which the asphalt was expected to perform in the field at each stage of the process.

Mr. Man says I-Brid was originally developed specifically for airport applications. As a result, the binder had to adhere to the strict requirements for these projects due to the liabilities and risks associated with airport operations and aircraft movement.

“We have to ensure that the mix containing SAMIfalt I-Brid fully conforms

with the stringent airport specifications.

Airports will usually have particular contract specifications that the contractor must abide by and we had to ensure those could be always met,” he says.

The first application of SAMIfalt I-Brid will be performed at the Bundaberg Airport in Queensland and laid by Colas Queensland.

The binder will be laid on the airport’s apron which Mr. Man describes as a car park for aircraft.

“The binder displays a very high level of deformation resistance meaning it’s sturdy and should perform very well in terms of ability to take stationary loading,” he says.

“Bundaberg Airport’s apron is a starting point for this binder, and I’m convinced that due to its exceptional properties it will become well known in the industry and its use will significantly increase,” he says.

Dr. Giustozzi believes this binder could also have a huge impact on the road construction industry for use in high traffic areas, such as highways and busy intersections.

“Whenever you have a high demand road and you have fatigue and rutting, people are looking for both flexibility and hightemperature resistance at the same time, a ‘universal’ binder. In all of these applications I think the I-Brid is the right solution,” Dr. Giustozzi says.

roadsonline.com.au

27

THE FUTURE

IS FOAM

HIWAY STABILISERS IS USING FOAMED BITUMEN TO IMPROVE ROAD PAVEMENTS ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND PERFECTING TECHNIQUES TO PROVIDE STANDARD AND BESPOKE SOLUTIONS FOR MAINTENANCE AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.

O

ver the past decade Hiway Stabilizers has laid over four million square metres of foamed bitumen which equates to around two thirds the size of the entire Sydney Olympic Park, measuring 6.5 million square metres.

The company has been refining foamed bitumen technology for nearly 20 years, working to provide the road industry with the benefits of the process for pavement rehabilitation or new applications.

Allen Browne, Hiway Group Technical Director, says Hiway Stabilizers effectively started developing foamed bitumen in the early 2000s. The results of trials completed in 2003 prompted the company’s investment in two of Wirtgen’s state-of-theart pavement recyclers, to expand works.

“Using Wirtgen machines, Hiway Stabilizers has been able to build a quality track record for rural and urban settings, in diverse environments across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji,” Mr. Browne says.

Foamed bitumen recycling is a pavement rehabilitation process involving the mixing

of foamed bitumen with existing pavement materials to produce a high quality, durable and flexible pavement layer with similar performance to traditional asphalt.

In this process imported aggregates can also be treated, either independently or blended with existing aggregates.

“Foamed bitumen is created by injecting a small amount of water into hot bitumen, around 175 to 190 degrees Celsius, and offers a holistic, fast and costeffective alternative for road pavement rehabilitation. The principal is based on the bitumen being at such a temperature that the water vaporizes and the bitumen foams, expanding up to 15 times its original volume,” Mr. Browne says.

“This expansion process occurs inside the rotor chamber where the foamed bitumen can then be immediately and thoroughly mixed with the pavement material.”

Mr. Browne says in its expanded state the bitumen disperses very well forming thousands of ‘spot welds’ and results in visco-elastic performance, which can be

Hiway Stablizers started developing foamed bitumen in the early 2000s.

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similar to asphalt.

The company has undertaken around 1.5 million square metres of foamed bitumen projects in Australia. This includes projects in Queensland which were shown to be highly moisture resilient following extensive flooding events in the state in 2010/11 and 2013. This work was done by Hiway Group in the areas of Townsville, Rockhampton, Mackay and Cairns.

“For those programs of work in Queensland, Hiway Stabilizers led the charge and undertook around 250,000 square metres of foamed bitumen stabilisation works,” Mr. Browne says.

These projects come in addition to the nearly three million square metres of foamed bitumen works the company has undertaken in New Zealand and 200,000 square metres of work in Fiji.

“A key driver for Hiway Stabilizers in developing the foam programme has been the range of benefits that can be derived from using the product,” Mr. Browne says.

“Hiways has a strong focus on reducing

ASPHALT IN ACTION

its carbon footprint in all its activities and is constantly striving to deliver products and work activities which drive sustainable outcomes, while also achieving huge strength and resilience gains.”

One example of this is how the company strives to incorporate and recycle existing materials in pavement construction. This can provide a number of benefits including reduced demand for virgin aggregate and reducing the amount of bitumen used in road construction.

“Hiway Stabilizers’ approach to recycling also aims to reduce transportation costs and effects such as reduced heavy vehicle movements, noise, fuel requirements and emissions. While at the same time we work to provide an extended pavement life which requires less maintenance activity over time,” Mr. Browne says.

The company has developed a tried and trusted operational process over the years however, it also has a strong in-house design team.

“Our design team enables us to provide clients with a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach to get better outcomes through the design of bitumen treated mixes and determining the best materials composition. The team can also optimise pavement design and influence the construction methodology to achieve the best possible, whole of life, benefits,” Mr. Browne says.

Hiway Stabilizers has the capability to manufacture and deliver both plant

Foamed bitumen applications: • New pavement construction • Rehabilitation of existing pavements • Production of maintenance patching materials • Storage grade stockpile application, for extended working times.

Hiway Stabilizers estimated foamed bitumen benefits: • Can be more cost effective than structural asphalt • Similar strength to asphalt possible • Resilient pavement material which can be less prone to moisture or flood impacts • Long working time • Strong, durable and flexible pavement layer • Reduced environmental impact

Hiway Stablizers has used polymer modified foamed bitumen sucessfully on construction projects with new and existing materials.

mix foamed bitumen and in-situ foamed bitumen which provides options for many road types. The company can also produce foamed bitumen in a storage grade stockpile that can be used for a period of up to 28 days.

“This approach offers a better value proposition for projects that require varying tonnages throughout a defined period,” Mr. Browne says.

“We are continuously working with regulators to ensure compliance to Australian standards for stockpile applications and we have been very pleased with the outcomes we have achieved.”

In recent years, Hiway Stabilizers has used polymer modified foamed bitumen successfully on both construction projects with new quarry materials, and for rehabilitation projects using existing pavement materials which are sometimes mixed with new materials.

“Our calculations show whole of life cost evaluation using foamed bitumen demonstrates significant savings in both resources and carbon footprint, where salvaged pavement materials can be reused,” Mr. Browne says.

“Prepatory treatment with supplementary aggregate and, or binders may be required to bring recycled materials to the standard required for the foamed bitumen process.”

Recently Hiway Stabilizers was faced with a challenge, as part of a full-term maintenance contract, to ensure that during

road repairs, full reinstatement to match the adjoining lanes on the road had to be achieved every night.

“This was a difficult task given the time available and the nature of some of the repairs. For example, we had to lay structural asphalt on a motorway or heavy load route which can require three or four lifts impacting on productivity,” Mr. Browne says.

“We produced a foamed bitumen design and developed a methodology whereby we milled out the existing asphalt surface to provide appropriate composite materials.

Then we blended those with imported make-up materials and created a foamed bitumen mix, which we laid to a depth that matched the level of the surrounding existing surfacing.”

When this process was completed the company was able to open the road and let traffic run on the foamed bitumen surface at a limited speed for several days as the road cured.

“Once the curing was complete, we then profiled out 40 millimetres of the foamed bitumen to inlay the wearing course for final geometrics. Consequently, productivity and the time savings achieved reduced the overall cost of the operation significantly,” Mr. Browne says.

“Hiway Stabilizers always aims to be at the forefront of the development of foamed bitumen solutions and we will continue to deliver successful, sustainable outcomes for our clients over the coming years.” roadsonline.com.au

29

, D E E N U .

O T Y E R R E ER N. V E F O T N A O H IS H W D IT RC A N I E F ES TH

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TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT

INTRODUCING THE

Q-FE ROAD ANT

QUALITY FABRICATIONS AND ENGINEERING IS THE BUSINESS BEHIND THE Q-FE ROAD ANT, A DUAL CONTROLLED FORWARD MOVING AGGREGATE SPREADER SET TO INCREASE SAFETY ON SPRAY SEALING PROJECTS ACROSS THE ROAD NETWORK.

V

icRoads manages around 23,000 kilometres of the state’s roads, valued at around $27 billion.

In a move to increase safety on VicRoads’ construction projects, the road authority announced in 2017 that by July 2022 aggregate spreading on sprayed seals will be required to be forward moving.

At the Safer Roads Conference in 2017 John Esnouf, Principal Engineer Spray Seal Technology, VicRoads - Technical Services, revealed a pedestrian worker at a VicRoads work site suffered a serious injury after being run over by an aggregate spreader.

As a result, Mr. Esnouf said VicRoads began a journey to progressively improve the safety at its sprayed seal worksites.

One company has come up with an innovative dual controlled machine to enable contractors to spread aggregates in a forward moving direction.

Glenn Hardiman and Quality Fabrications and Engineering is the company behind the Q-FE Road Ant, a dual controlled forward moving aggregate spreader, that has been developed for use on VicRoads projects.

Glenn Hardiman, formed the idea for the Road Ant over a decade ago. When Glenn joined Quality Fabrications and Engineering, the founder, Graham Laycock got onboard with the idea and together the pair developed the concept of driving a truck backwards and attaching a rear cabin and dual control to drive the truck in a forward motion from either direction.

“Dual control allows the operator to sit at either side of the cabin and they can be looking directly over the spray seal job,” Mr. Hardiman says.

The Q-FE Road Ant is based on, but not restricted to, an Isuzu cab chassis 6x4/8x4, fitted with a Trout River asphalt compatible

The Q-FE Road Ant is a dual controlled machine that enables contractors to spread aggregates in a forward moving direction.

body and 10 gate chip spreader.

“We wanted to create a machine dedicated to aggregate spreading but, the truck can also be used conventionally.”

On the Road Ant the aggregate is conveyed from the Trout River moving floor body, underneath the cabin and into the Trout River 10 gate chip spreader.

Reaching 2.5 metres as a standard the spreader can service widths of up to 2.95 metres with extensions, making the machine suited to arterial and local roads.

“The spreader can be hydraulically moved to allow for towing, and it is possible to remove it if needed,” Mr. Hardiman says.

The Road Ant also features an array of additional safety measures such as operating cameras and monitoring screens fitted to the Road Ant and truck cabins.

“An automatic braking system is also fitted to both cabins which will apply the brakes if an object or pedestrian is detected in a work area. This is implemented with the aim of greatly reducing accidents on the worksite,” Mr. Hardiman says.

Anti-rollaway devices are fitted to both

the Road Ant and truck cabins. He says this monitors the park brake, the doors and seat occupancy, to determine if the truck is left without the park brake activated.

“The system will apply the vehicle’s brakes automatically if necessary, as well as audibly warn the driver by a voice message.”

For further safety during sprayed seal applications, brake lights, indicators and a reverse buzzer are fitted to the truck cabin, these are inactive when the truck is operated conventionally.

Forward moving aggregate spreading is the primary function of the Road Ant but, it can be used for other construction operations.

“The truck cabin has full controls for the body and any attachments, which enables the machine to be used for asphalting, shoulder work, and conventional spreading of crushed rock,” Mr. Hardiman says.

He says the machine is compliant with VicRoads standard 408.11 to be used as a dual controlled forward moving aggregate spreader, following the submission of a proposal to VicRoads which has been approved. roadsonline.com.au

31

EXCAVATION

EXCELLENCE

JOHN DEERE’S LATEST RANGE OF EXCAVATORS ARE NOW AVAILABLE TO BE PUT TO WORK IN AUSTRALIA. THE E210, E210LC, E230LC, E240, E240LC, E260LC, E330LC, E360, E380LC, AND E400LC EXCAVATORS ALL PROVIDE GENEROUS MUSCLE FOR MASS EXCAVATION.

W

ith infrastructure poised as one of the sectors ready to help the Australian economy recover from the economic effects of COVID-19, new projects are being announced almost daily.

The Federal Government has a $100 billion dollar pipeline of projects and in April 2020 Infrastructure, Transport & Regional Development Minister Michael McCormack said there were 3500 federally funded projects underway.

As these projects get underway, reliable, durable and strong machinery will be required to ensure that contractors can deliver these projects on time.

John Deere has just released its latest range of excavators the E210, E210LC, E230LC, E240, E240LC, E260LC, E330LC, E360, E380LC, and E400LC in Australia and these are expected

to aid in projects large and small.

Each excavator features a Deere PowerTech Plus engine which works to deliver fuel efficiency and is fully integrated with John Deere’s Intelligent Hydraulic (JD-IHC) system to help provide a fast, smooth response.

Building on the strength of John Deere excavators, this range does not compromise on smooth control and multifunction capability that have become features of John Deere excavators.

For the operator, a redesigned cab presents new ergonomic automotivequality styling, a new touch-screen monitor, and intuitive controls.

Expanded bucket options and additional auxiliary hydraulic lines also allow operators to power a wide array of attachments.

Jeff Kraft, Managing Director for Asia Pacific

and Africa at John Deere Construction and Forestry, says this series of excavators are powerful and productive, yet efficient and easy to run, helping many projects to achieve their full potential.

“Our excavators are built tough to deliver excellent uptime, with heavy-duty booms and arms, a robust electrical system, optimised hydraulic routing, and other features driven by customer feedback and inspiration,” Mr. Kraft says.

The undercarriage of the excavators is sealed and lubricated to prevent wear.

Each machine also features a heavy-duty welded X-frame to provide a solid and stable platform.

Sloped track frames on the excavators help to resist material build up to decrease cleaning time at the beginning and end

Contractors can choose full-length track guides and double-grouser track shoes as an option for rocky or mountainous terrain.

32

ROADS JULY 2020

TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT of each day’s work. A cooling system is featured in the machine, which works to keep the engine and hydraulic system running efficiently through a wide range of environments.

Contractors can also choose full-length track guides and double-grouser track shoes an option when using excavators for use in rocky or mountainous terrain.

“John Deere excavators deliver on endurance and serviceability. The heavy-duty arm and boom are durably built for long life even in severe applications,” Mr. Kraft says.

The arm is protected by steel ribs from material damage when it is loading a curling bucket. Steel Collars also guard any grease points to shield these in tough environments.

As an option, contractors can choose to have extra side bumpers on two sides of the upper frame. On heavy duty models this bumper will protect the machine from damage on crowded job sites where productivity is essential.

“For simplicity when repairing or upgrading the machine there are fewer wires than previous models, fewer mechanical relays and a smaller number of electrical connectors.”

Mr. Kraft says.

This was enabled through the design of the system architecture which centred around direct connections and also by using solidstate electronics.

Mr. Kraft says the spacious operating station, featured in the new John Deere excavators, is designed with convenience in mind, boasting new eye-catching automotive-styling quality.

“Ergonomically placed controls, an automatic temperature control system, and ample storage help operators stay comfortable and productive all day,” he says.

John Deere have also included a new seven-inch touch-screen monitor, to enable operators to have quick access to all the machine features and functions.

The excavators in the range are supported by a national dealer service and parts network, with parts distribution across Australia.

“John Deere has a reputation globally for dependable quality, proven reliability, outstanding durability, and strong performance. And now excavators designed, built, and backed by John Deere are available in Australia,” Mr. Kraft says.

John Deere has a full range of excavators from 1.8 metres to 40 metres.

Each excavator features a Deer PowerTech engine which works to deliver fuel efficiency.

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TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT

PAVING ON

THE MOVE

DESIGNED IN AMERICA AND TAILORED FOR AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS, ASTEC HAS INTRODUCED THE CARLSON CP100 II AND CP130 PAVERS TO THE LOCAL MARKET. PROVIDING FLEXIBILITY AND A SPECIALISED CARLSON SCREED, IT HAS PROVEN POPULAR WITH CONTRACTORS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

T

he ISM Raceway in Phoenix, home to two weekends of NASCAR racing each year, attracts thousands of fans and the world’s best race car drivers.

When modernisation was needed in 2018, local company Performance Paving needed the right equipment for the job. Company president Tommy Tuttle said the CP100 II paver was chosen specifically for its ability to produce a quality screed and mat finish.

As a distributor of Carlson products in Australia, Astec supplies the CP100 II and CP130 to Australian contractors.

Travis Colwell, Marketing Manager at Carlson Paving Products, describes the CP100 II as the swiss army knife of paving.

He says it is well suited to a variety of projects including municipal jobs, residential roads, carparks and utility works.

This versatility allows contractors to work the machine across multiple jobs each day.

The paver and screed are designed to meet specifications in states such as Queensland and in New South Wales, where the width requirement for heavy vehicles is a maximum of 2.5 metres.

“The EZCSS screed has a transport width of 2.49 metres, so contractors in those states can move machinery around during the day,” Mr. Colwell says.

The Carlson EZCSS front-mounted screed is a critical component of the paver.

“We have distilled our highway class screed innovation into a smaller platform that can be mounted onto the CP100 II and CP130. This includes highway class mat quality, a two per cent screed taper, adjustable side blocks and more,” he says.

“A single slide extension support also means fewer moving components on the screed and, therefore, increased reliability.

34

ROADS JULY 2020

The EZCSS screed’s simplified design makes it ideal use for day in and day out.”

For added flexibility, the paver can be configured for two or three operators.

“Contractors running smaller crews can have two people running the paver and allocate more labour to other works,” Mr. Colwell says. “The three-operator configuration has a dedicated person on top of the paver and two on the screed.

This is used for paving with larger crews.”

A two-person set up, removing the operator at the top of the machine, is an important feature in height restricted areas.

Mr. Colwell says versatility is also clear in the paver’s control system, a simple LED display operators configure the machine.

“We do not support one or another technology when it comes to grading slope automation systems. The contractor can use any system and mount it on to the paver to achieve quality results,” Mr. Colwell says.

The CP100 II and CP130 pavers can also be upgraded according to the needs of the

customer and their business.

“When starting out you need a machine that can meet the scope of work today. But with the CP100 II and CP130, you can build the machine’s technological capabilities as needed,” Mr. Colwell says.

Jorge Boil, Business Line Manager at Astec Australia says CP100 II and CP130 machines are now working in NSW, TAS, QLD and WA. “We have sold a number of these machines across the country. Our customers are using these pavers on jobs from carparks to subdivisions, streets and driveways,” Mr. Boil says.

He says customers are finding real benefit in being able to transport the paver to many different jobs during a day, without having to remove any machine components.

“I think the CP100 II and CP130 are ideal for any smaller jobs, their pushing power and traction are impressive. Operating the machines in two modes is important for visibility, and the screed really does give a beautiful mat finish,” Mr. Boil says.

The Carlson CP100 II and the CP130 can be upgraded as a business expands to increase the machine’s technological capabilities.

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& INFRASTRUCTURE

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SAMI General Manager Sebastien Chatard introduces the company’s new online portal

Federal Government Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack on the continued construction pipeline.

Official media partners of

OFFICE OF FUTURE TRANSPORT ARRB highlights future tech PLANNING FOR TOMORROW Reducing congestion in Victoria

AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE

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Reducing congestion in Victoria PLANNING FOR TOMORROW ARRB highlights future tech OFFICE OF FUTURE TRANSPORT

JULY 2020

DIGITAL BITUMEN

“WE’RE NOT STOPPING”

ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA

MAY 2020

MACHINERY TO KEEP MOVING

Hastings Deering highlights the importance of machinery when creating a quality road profile.

Official media partners of

RECYCLED FIRST A new recycled material program

VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS AAPA and IPWEA detail the move to online learning WESTERN SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL Major earthworks take off at the airport

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AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE

AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE

AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE

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Major earthworks take off at the airport WESTERN SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL move to online learning AAPA and IPWEA detail the VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS

Official media partners of

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With increasing emphasis on the need to upgrade Australia’s road network, nationally and locally, and the need to deal with worsening congestion in our cities, ROADS creating a quality road profile. provides a window onpipeline. developments in the roads construction sector. importance of machinery when construction Hastings Deering highlights the

McCormack on the continued Infrastructure Minister Michael Federal Government

KEEP MOVING articles/segments MACHINERY TO

Roads & Infrastructure Australia is published monthly and contains STOPPING” from industry“WE’RE associations NOT and advocacy groups, technical papers from roads related conferences, details of major projects BITUMEN being undertaken around the country, DIGITAL specialised sections, a news roundup and new product releases. The specialised sections & I N F R Ainclude S T R U C T Uroad R E safety, intelligent transport systems, road & I Nbuilding F R A S T R Uequipment, CTURE & INFRASTRUCTURE road and pavement maintenance, safety barrier systems and road marking. new online portal introduces the company’s Sebastien Chatard SAMI General Manager

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AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE

ASPHALT PRODUCTION

GOES GREEN

AS THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY MOVES TOWARDS MORE GREEN AND ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES, CIBER EQUIPMENT DETAILS THE TECHNOLOGY IN ITS iNOVA ASPHALT PLANTS THAT OFFERS FUEL SAVINGS AND EMISSION REDUCTIONS.

A

s the States and Territories across Australia set zero emissions targets for the future, construction companies are looking at the role they can play in the reduction of pollution across the supply chain.

In early 2020, the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) released a report which found in Australia, construction and the operation of physical infrastructure assets for transport, energy, water, waste and communications, contributes to around 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Direct contributions to emissions were calculated at 15 per cent and the report also found a 55 per cent contribution to the influencing of annual emissions through activities enabled by the infrastructure.

In recent years the road construction industry has been investigating new processes to reduce some of these emissions.

These kinds of environmental considerations have been a large focus for

original equipment manufacturer, CIBER Equipment when creating asphalt plants.

CIBER’s Product and Application Specialist, Marcelo Zubaran says the gasses released during production of an asphalt plant will depend on the type of fuel used and the quality of combustion.

“In a complete combustion with hot mix asphalt plants, when fuel reacts completely with the oxygen, normally CO2 and H2O are released. If the combustion is incomplete and part of the fuel does not react with the oxygen it has the chance of releasing CO2, but also CO, SO2 and NOx,” Mr. Zubaran says.

Working towards an economy that has close to zero emissions will require a significant reduction of greenhouse gasses such as CO2, and CIBER recognised asphalt plants could have an impact on this endeavour.

Mr. Zubaran says the asphalt burner is crucial to ensuring quality of combustion and therefore reduction of emissions, as some harmful gasses may only be generated

When the burner is blowing fuel and air through the plant a flame is produced.

36

ROADS JULY 2020

in incomplete combustion.

The iNOVA Total Air burner features CIBER’s Total Air technology which automatically controls the optimum air to fuel ratio necessary for combustion.

Mr. Zubaran says the technology mechanically supplies the air to the plant through two fans, without suctioning air through the plant from the outdoor environment.

“The use of Total Air burners allows a closed-loop combustion system. This way a pressure gauge, placed in the combustion chamber, can monitor negative pressure inside the dryer drum and can vary the rotation speed of the exhaust fan in real time,” he says.

When the burner is blowing fuel and air through the plant, a flame is produced to avoid the injection of unburned fuel into the aggregates. This flame creates the gas in an asphalt plant and Mr. Zubaran says this in turn creates the need for a bag filter.

“In CIBER plants the exhaust fan is responsible for sucking the gasses from the burner, this forces the gasses to travel in the exhaust pipe and reach the bag filter.

From there it goes through the fabric, into the exhaust fan and finally the gasses are released into the environment,” he says.

During this process powder or dust can get blown, with the gasses, through the exhaust pipe. At this point the filter bag catches and retains the dust while the gas passes through, reducing dust contamination outside of the plant.

Mr. Zubaran says the filtering system has a significant impact on the amount of dust particles that are released into the environment.

“CIBER plant bag filters are made of a special fabric that can resist temperatures of

TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT

the equipment in operation with a cylindrical shape or pleated surfaces,” he says.

The pleated bags were developed by CIBER with the purpose of obtaining a large filtering area in a reduced amount of space.

“When the filtering area is higher it means the filter will stay cleaner for longer during production. This enables the filter to better contain dust or powder,” Mr. Zubaran says.

“A dirtier filter creates a barrier for the air to pass through, which increases the loss of pressure in the plant. This causes a reduction in the amount of air necessary for combustion, reducing the amount of fuel that can be injected into the burner,” Mr. Zubaran says.

He says when the fuel is reduced, it is important to maintain the ideal fuel to air ratio. To do this, the air is consequently reduced which can slow production down and at this point the filter bag would need changing.

In CIBER plants, the exhaust fan is responsible for sucking the gasses from the burner.

For CIBER’s iNOVA asphalt plants, four elements were implemented to increase its environmental responsibility.

“The main technologies we focused

A view of the bag filters from inside.

on to make the iNOVA plants more environmentally friendly were the bag filter and smart combustion system, but also the Total air burner and the exhaust fan on demand,” Mr. Zubaran says.

CIBER iNOVA plants feature a Smart Combustion System which allows the thermal energy in the plant to be kept at a consistent level.

“This is important because the more thermal energy the aggregates receive, the lower the temperature of the gasses traveling to the bag filter will be,” Mr. Zubaran says.

The temperature in the bag filter needs to be 100 degrees Celsius or higher to avoid condensation, which can be damaging in the combustion process. If the temperature is right, it will produce the most efficient level of heat exchange possible for the aggregates, while also achieving the right temperature in the filter.

“A perfect thermal exchange temperature can result in lower fuel consumption both when heating the aggregates and when powering the exhaust fan for the filter,” Mr. Zubaran says.

“These technologies applied in the plant’s drying system work to ensure the lowest fuel consumption possible and consequently, lower emissions.”

Mr. Zubaran says a CIBER asphalt plant is a long-term investment, as it will be in production for many years.

“As environmental technologies are also long term we need to be prepared for future demands. The road building industry are demanding more ‘green’ technologies and the ones applied on our plants help to reduce costs and emissions through fuel savings.” roadsonline.com.au

37

GOING GREEN WITH

GEOSYNTHETICS

MANUFACTURER GEOFABRICS IN ALBURY, NEW SOUTH WALES, IS RECYCLING PLASTIC BOTTLES INTO GEOTEXTILE MATERIALS FOR USE WITHIN MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS TO AID WITH ANYTHING FROM SEPARATION, FILTRATION, DRAINAGE AND CUSHIONING.

G

eofabrics turns Australian waste plastic into a viable and beneficial geotextile for road construction through its on-shore manufacturing facilities.

For over 40 years Geofabrics has been providing the infrastructure sector with tailored geotextile solutions. It all began in the 1970’s when the ‘to-be’ owners of Geofabrics came across geotextiles being used for road construction in Europe.

In 1978, Geofabrics got its start in Melbourne and expanded quickly across the country. There are now two Geofabrics manufacturing sites in Australia, one in NSW and one in Queensland.

The Albury factory in NSW is home to all of the company’s road construction industry geotextiles. While Geofabrics has a wide range of different products for road construction, its newest fabric made with recycled plastic is bidim Green.

Bidim Green is made from Australian recyclable materials and Peter Tzelepis, Executive Director of Sales and Business Development at Geofabrics says it can be applied across nearly every civil engineering construction project.

The fabric can be used in the road base to provide separation and filtration under road construction materials such as asphalt.

“The idea for bidim Green came from the issues around circular economy and waste.

One of our key sectors for Geofabrics is waste management services and over the last two to three years we have seen this issue develop and we know there is a real need to do something with our waste plastic,” Mr. Tzelepis says.

“Our vision, was that our product will go into the ground to serve a purpose, it’s not going into a landfill. We simply saw it as a great opportunity to support the circular economy.”

38

ROADS JULY 2020

Bidim Green is placed underneath the road formation.

Locally made and sourced materials, such as the recycled plastic, are an important factor in the manufacturing process for all Geofabrics products. The company has a specific technical department and innovation sector that works with Australian companies to provide solutions tailored to local conditions.

“Australian conditions are quite unique, from isolation to UV exposure, even rock sizes in road construction can vary in different parts of the country and there might not always be a quarry nearby to provide materials for every road,” Mr. Tzelepis says.

“Geofabrics and its products like bidim Green, which is placed underneath the road formation, are there to reduce the amount of excavation and virgin materials needed on these major infrastructure projects.”

Mr. Tzelepis says bidim Green can also be used when rehabilitating the road surface.

He says for example, if a project planned to mill out 100 millimetres of the road surface

and replace that asphalt, incorporating a geosynthetic for reinforcement could reduce the amount of asphalt needed by around 40 per cent.

“Another uniquely Australian challenge is the UV exposure. When looking at a UV radiation map of Australia different places have varied exposure to UV which can degrade a geotextile if left exposed for a period of time,” he says.

“To ensure we can provide the right solution we have real time testing on bidim Green at our offices all over Australia to see how it performs with different exposure.

We are building the performance of our product to the climatic and environmental changes in different Australian regions.”

Chip sealing is another application, popular in rural Australia, in which bidim Green can be applied to provide improved performance.

“Typically, roads with a chip seal are low volume roads and so when it comes time to repair the pavement, milling out the material

INFRASTRUCTURE IN FOCUS - RECYCLED PRODUCTS

Locally made and sourced materials, such as recycled plastic, are an important factor in the manufacuring process for all Geofabrics products.

and relaying the surface can be costly,” Mr. Tzelepis says.

Bidim Green paving fabric is laid in between two layers of bitumen with the aggregate spread on top, to help provide structure to a fatigued pavement and support the new chip seal.

“It creates a tension membrane, so vehicle loading that may push the road to deform is absorbed by the fabric. The fabric will also absorb the bitumen to

P L A N T

.

create a waterproofing membrane to prevent water from penetrating into the subgrade and affecting moisture content with expansive clays.”

Geofabrics are currently working through a process with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia to certify bidim Green, to facilitate wider use on Australia’s infrastructure projects.

With demand from governments to use recycled products in infrastructure

E Q U I P M E N T

.

P A R T S

.

projects, such as Victoria’s Recycled First program and NSW’s Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Fund, Mr. Tzelepis says bidim Green is another product contractors can consider to make their projects environmentally friendly.

“We know we have to make our materials sustainable, I take my recycling bin out to the kerb every second week, if I know my recycling is going to be picked up and used on projects like my road, that is fantastic.”

S E R V I C E

&

S U P P O R T

ASTEC AUSTRALIA PAVING SOLUTIONS

EQUIPMENT TO BUILD AND RESTORE THE WORLD’S INFRASTRUCTURE ASTEC AUSTRALIA.

an Astec Industries Company

PO BOX 142, ACACIA RIDGE, QLD, 4110 • 1300 278 322 • astecaustralia.com.au

Prime Creative Media has conducted a survey of the road construction industry to gauge the effects of the coronavirus on operations.

CONSTRUCTION

AS USUAL? ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE’S PUBLISHER PRIME CREATIVE MEDIA HAS CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY TO ASSESS THE EFFECTS OF THE CORONAVIRUS ON OPERATIONS. WHILE EVERY CORNER OF THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN IMPACTED BY THE VIRUS, THE SURVEY REVEALED THERE IS HOPE.

T

he construction industry has seen its fair share of highs and lows as a result of the coronavirus.

When restrictions began it was unclear which sections of the industry, if any, would be deemed as essential. There were also doubts about when and how projects would be able to go ahead.

However, it soon became evident that construction in many of its forms would continue throughout the pandemic and more recently the construction industry has been seen as a beacon of hope for economic growth.

In April, the Australian Asphalt Pavement Association confirmed road construction was an essential service and would continue through the pandemic. Shortly after, announcements began to pour in from state and federal government about 40

ROADS JULY 2020

What best characterises the effect of COVID-19 on your business at present.?

Very negative.

17.2%

Somewhat negative.

43.01%

Not a lot of impact.

29.57%

We have seen some increase in business.

10.22%

Results showed around 30 per cent of respondents said they had seen little impact and 10 per cent said they had seen some increase in business.

INFRASTRUCTURE IN FOCUS - INDUSTRY SURVEY

projects and stimulus boosts expected to benefit the industry and economy.

Nearly every Premier indicated that construction would be a key element in the economic recoveries of their respective regions.

Fast-tracking became the new buzz word, as areas looked to get started on construction projects earlier than planned to keep funding flowing and people in jobs.

In June 2020, Prime Creative Media conducted an industry survey for the readers of Roads & Infrastructure to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on the civil construction industry.

Responses came in from nearly 200 businesses across the country. The size of businesses ranged from up to 10 workers, right through to companies with over 500 employees.

Results showed that 60 per cent of respondents noted COVID-19 has had a negative impact on business. Around 17 per cent citied very negative effects and 43 per cent recognised somewhat negative impacts.

The other 40 per cent of responses showed little impact (nearly 30 per cent) and 10 percent of respondents said they had seen some increase in business.

These responses indicated that while there has been a big push for construction activity to continue, even companies that were allowed to continue works during the pandemic have seen challenges.

In addition, survey answers regarding when individuals thought business would return to normal were varied.

An almost even percentage believed business would return to previous levels in three to six months or six to 12 months.

Some optimism was presented as 12 per cent of respondents believed business as usual would return in the next one to three months.

However, more than 18 per cent of respondents thought it would be over a year before businesses returned to previous levels.

At the time of writing in mid June, restrictions are beginning to ease across the country. Some state borders remain closed and in many places, people are being advised to continue working from home where possible.

The Treasury is forecasting that National Cabinet’s plan for a three-stage restriction easing process will see 850,000 people back in work.

What best describes your hiring intentions for the next 12-24 months?

We will operate with a reduced number of staff.

19.35%

We hope to rehire any staff laid off or stood down

8.06%

We don’t expect to create new positions.

40.86%

We hope to create more positions in the next 12 months.

31.72%

Results showed around 30 per cent of road construction businesses hoped to create new positions over the next 12 to 24 months.

When asked what hiring intentions businesses have for the next 12 to 24 months, nearly 41 per cent of survey respondents did not expect to create any new positions. On the contrary, nearly 32 per cent hoped to create new positions.

Eight percent of respondents hoped to rehire any staff laid off or stood down and the remaining percentage said they would be operating with a reduced number of staff.

At the beginning of the escalation of coronavirus the Federal Government announced its first $17.6 billion stimulus package. This included a commitment of $1.3 billion to help small businesses in supporting the jobs of around 120,000 apprentices and trainees.

Eligible employers were able to apply for a wage subsidy of 50 per cent of the apprentice or trainees wage for up to 9 months from 1 January 2020. We have seen businesses such as Hastings Deering take on apprenticeships during this time to bring new talent into the industry.

On top of sourcing new talent, many industry leaders have classed this period of time as a great opportunity for development and innovation in the construction industry.

In an interview with Roads & Infrastructure in May, Michael Caltabiano CEO of the Australian Road Research Board said we don’t often get the opportunity to pause and we have been forced to pause now. He said it would be a great tragedy to lose the opportunity of a forced pause to enact change.

He said it was important that stimulus funding lead to the legacy of a much safer

road system and pointed to the importance of ensuring industry developments in sustainability are continued.

When asked how they would approach research and development over the next 12 to 18 months, survey results showed 52 per cent of respondents were exploring new technologies and services to make their companies more efficient.

Only 13 per cent said research and development funding would be reduced.

The remaining 34 per cent indicated that projects will continue for the next 12-18 months but new investments would be put on hold.

Staying informed about industry advancements, innovations and projects has been important for many businesses during this time. Respondents were asked about the level of trust they have in industry media and results showed trade magazines or journals were the most trustworthy. This was followed by emailed newsletters, media websites and social media, in that order.

While the impacts of the coronavirus continue to be felt by many in the industry, whether in projects, employment or research and development, it is clear that road construction companies are optimistic about economic recovery.

Responses showed awareness for the importance of a continued marketing presence, alongside the need for the upkeep of research and development.

It appears if the country continues to flatten the curve of infection, restrictions may continue to ease and the next question for industry will be what the new business as normal might look like. roadsonline.com.au

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SUPPORTING RECYCLED

INFRASTRUCTURE A NEW GLASS ADDITIVE BIN AT ALEX FRASER’S CLARINDA RECYCLING FACILITY IS BOOSTING ITS CAPACITY IN ORDER TO FEED THE DEMAND FOR RECYCLED MATERIALS ON VICTORIA’S INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS.

I

n March the Victorian Government introduced its Recycled First program, which aims to implement new requirements prioritising sustainability in infrastructure projects under the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority.

These requirements will mean recycled products that meet standards, such as glass, plastic, reclaimed asphalt and others would be prioritised over virgin materials for construction.

Recycling company, Alex Fraser, is directly enabling the use of high volumes of recycled glass and brick waste directly, by transforming the materials into a quality sand and aggregate for blending into road base.

The company’s Clarinda Recycling Facility currently processes hundreds of thousands of tonnes of recycled products for use on road construction and maintenance projects across Melbourne.

Reprocessing glass waste is also set to be simplified following the Victorian Government’s February announcement that it will roll out separate kerbside glass bins from 2021. This is hoped to result in less contamination of kerbside glass waste with other materials and several councils have already proactively implemented similar measures.

Together these initiatives have the potential to significantly increase the use of recycled glass, and other materials across the many projects included in Victoria’s infrastructure plans.

Peter Murphy, Alex Fraser Managing Director, says both glass fines and brick are priority and problematic waste streams, and the Clarinda Recycling Facility is a perfectly positioned outlet for these recycled products.

“We are not only reprocessing waste materials but ensuring that the material is recycled into a valuable resource that 42

ROADS JULY 2020

Alex Fraser processes high volumes of recycled glass and brick waste for use in infrastructure projects.

contributes toward Victoria’s growing circular economy,” Mr. Murphy says.

Late last year, Alex Fraser was among 13 recipients of the Victorian Government’s $4.67 million Resource Recovery Infrastructure Grants program.

It used the $336,500 grant towards the construction of the new glass and brick additive bins at its Clarinda Recycling Facility, where they are used to blend recycled glass sand and brick into a new, sustainable road base product.

This single piece of recycling infrastructure is markedly increasing the distribution of recycled glass and brick into road and rail projects throughout Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs.

Mr. Murphy says the project will help reduce the landfill and stockpiling of problematic glass by 40,000 tonnes per year, the equivalent of 200 million bottles.

“By reprocessing this priority waste into high quality sand, we’re able to supply rail and road projects with a range of high-spec,

sustainable materials that cut costs, cartage and carbon emissions, and reduce the strain on natural resources,” he says.

“We’re pleased to be working with the Victorian Government to overcome one of the state’s biggest recycling challenges.”

Matt Genever, Director of Resource Recovery at Sustainability Victoria (SV), says SV recognised the Clarinda Recycling Facility as an important site for resource recovery in Melbourne.

“Processing up to one million tonnes of recycling per annum, the site serves a dual purpose, both as a hub for construction and demolition (C&D) waste in the south-east and through supply of aggregate and sand into new construction activities,” he says.

“We are acutely aware of the shortage of quarried materials to supply the state’s significant infrastructure program and having a site of this scale located in close proximity to these major projects is essential in ensuring ongoing supply of recycled construction products and materials.”

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

Recently, the Southern Program Alliance opted to use almost 200,000 tonnes of tonnes of Alex Fraser’s recycled materials on the Mentone and Cheltenham Level Crossing Removal, by the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA).

The project, expected to be completed in early 2021, is set to save 170,000 tonnes of material from landfill and will reduce the strain on natural resources by 185,000 tonnes.

Alex Fraser’s support on the LXRA projects is coupled by the supply of major roads projects like the Mordialloc Freeway, Monash Freeway and Western Roads Upgrade – which include millions of glass bottles from kerbside collections.

The nine-kilometre Mordialloc Freeway will link the Mornington Peninsula Freeway to the Dingley Bypass, providing drivers with an uninterrupted journey from Frankston to Clayton.

Brendan Pauwels, Program Director, Major Road Projects Victoria said when the freeway was in the planning phase, the team investigated ways to ensure sustainable solutions would be normal practice when construction began.

“Incorporating recycled glass and crushed concrete in the freeway’s foundations and road base helps ensure we not only meet the sustainability targets we set ourselves at the start of this project, but exceed them as well,” Mr. Pauwels says.

“As the Mordialloc Freeway progresses, we will also install drainage pipes made from recycled plastic, which significantly reduces waste while still being high quality and cost-effective.”

With the additive bin now in full operation at the Clarinda Recycling Facility,

Alex Fraser’s materials have been used on some of the Level Crossing Removal Projects, the Mordialloc Freeway and the Monash Freeway.

Alex Fraser is increasing its handling of priority recovered materials, like glass fine and brick, to around 800 tonnes per week.

“Glass is a high-volume waste stream, so it is imperative its recycling facilities are well located close to the point of generation and close to its end-markets,” Mr. Murphy says.

He adds natural sand can be trucked up to 100 kilometres, driving up costs, traffic congestion and emissions.

The additive bin will not only help with Melbourne’s glass waste problem but provide an inner-city supply solution that reduces these impacts.

“With the new additive bins, we are able to blend recycled glass sand and brick into a product that meets VicRoads specifications for most road bases which are being used in huge quantities on municipal works and Big Build projects throughout the south east,” he says.

The company is increasing its handling of priority recovered materials like glass fine and brick, to around 800 tonnes per week.

When C&D waste material arrives at Clarinda, often as huge slabs of concrete, it is crushed by an excavator before moving to the processing plant.

The plant then crushes the material even further into an aggregate size. From there, it is transferred to a conveyor that moves the material under the new additive bins.

The additive bins slowly release the recycled brick and glass into the mix in a ratio approved by VicRoads for use as recycled aggregate in road base or asphalt.

“It then goes through to a pug mill where the moisture content is adjusted to meet VicRoads specifications and the specified percentage of cement is added,” Mr. Murphy says.

“Projects demand high volumes, to accurate specifications, on tight timeframes, and these bins help achieve that.”

The facility is not simply reprocessing 40,000 tonnes of glass waste per year but recycling 40,000 tonnes of glass waste that cannot be otherwise recycled.

Thereby shifting it from a low value, high volume waste stream destined to accumulate in stockpiles or landfill, into a product of immense environmental and economic value.

With an increase of material likely to occur as the Victorian kerbside glass bins are implemented, the demand for recycled products will also be on the rise thanks to Recycled First.

Mr. Murphy says in the near future Victoria can expect to see an increase in demand of recycled material for use in road and rail projects as metropolitan natural reserves deplete. roadsonline.com.au

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RE-THINKING

RECYCLING

THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY HAS LONG PLAYED ITS PART TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF RECYCLED PRODUCTS IN PROJECTS. INFRASTRUCTURE VICTORIA’S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A $1 BILLION OVERHAUL OF THE WASTE SECTOR IN THE STATE ARE HOPED TO PROGRESS THIS WORK FURTHER, WHILE CREATING 5000 JOBS AND INCREASING REGIONAL RECYCLING CAPABILITIES.

O

ne of the most recent trends emerging in the road construction industry is the use of recycled plastic in roads.

Many trials and demonstrations have been performed across the country in the past couple of years, in attempts to determine if roads are a viable option to help reduce Australian waste plastic levels.

This year the City of Melbourne is trialling an asphalt mix using 50 per cent recycled plastic and other recycled materials on five of its roads. This is hoped to allow the council to assess whether it can use more recycled materials when resurfacing roads.

Energy Australia estimates more than 3.5 million tonnes of plastic were consumed in Australia in 2016-17 with less than 10 per cent recycled.

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ROADS JULY 2020

While the viability of using recycled plastics in roads has not yet been specified by road agencies, the industry is exploring innovative options that may work to both reduce waste and enhance road quality.

Plastics are not the only waste stream being given a second life in road construction, glass and rubber are also popular waste materials commonly used.

Even materials as unique as printer toner and coffee granules have been used in some forms of construction.

In 2019, the Victorian Government released its Sustainable Procurement Framework. This framework covered social and sustainable objectives for government projects across Victoria. It requires projects over $50 million dollars in value to include targets and contract requirements that

pursue social and sustainable procurement objectives.

However, some projects face barriers around the procurement of these recycled or sustainable materials, largely due to distance or availability.

This was one of the considerations taken in by Infrastructure Victoria when carrying out research into how best to advise the Victorian Government on its waste infrastructure investment.

In May 2020, the organisation released a report which found Victorian Recycling required a $1 billion investment by 2039 to close the loop on waste.

The advice suggested upgrading and building new processing infrastructure for six priority materials: plastics, paper, cardboard, glass, organics, tyres and e-waste. The

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY In May 2020, Infrastructure Victoria released a report which found Victorian recycling required a $1 billion investment by 2039.

“OUR INFRASTRUCTURE RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE FOCUSED ON RECOVERY AND RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE THAT IS GOING TO BE NECESSARY TO PROCESS THOSE MATERIALS IN VICTORIA EITHER FOR REUSE IN VICTORIA OR FOR SALE TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETS.”

organisation suggested this would create 5000 new jobs and high-quality recycled products for use in infrastructure projects and additional industries.

Roads & Infrastructure spoke to Infrastructure Victoria’s Project Director, Elissa McNamara about the strategy to create these facilities, the infrastructure needed to support them and the possible benefits.

“We have recommended six priority materials as we feel this is where the most opportunity for improvement environmentally and economically lies,” Ms. McNamara says.

“Our infrastructure recommendations have focused on recovery and recycling

Elissa McNamara, Infrastructure Victoria Project Director.

infrastructure that is going to be necessary to process those materials in Victoria either for reuse in Victoria or for sale to international markets.”

The report and advice recommends 87 new or upgraded recycling facilities for Victoria, 52 of which would be regionally located, outside of metropolitan Melbourne.

“The role of transport and the implications for transport was a big part of our consideration in terms of where we think these facilities should be located,” Ms. McNamara says.

“Melbourne produces most of the state’s waste, as we have most of the population.

However, from an economic and operational perspective it’s going to make a lot more sense, given how much additional capacity we need, to have facilities located outside of Melbourne in nearby regional areas.”

Ms. McNamara pointed out as an example that for a town like Mildura it would cost a significant amount to truck their waste into Melbourne or areas close to the city.

She says having facilities regionally located would allow those areas to process a larger amount of material while managing transport costs.

“This will mean that waste from the regions will not have to be transported too far. It can be recycled into products that can be reused within those regions or, because the products have an increased value, they can be viably transported to other regions for use,” Ms. McNamara says.

Having plants regionally located also has the potential to increase opportunities for local contractors to use recycled products in their works.

“All of the recommendations that we made are either for new or upgraded facilities to boost that good work that the construction industry has been doing,” Ms. McNamara says.

“We thought, how do we take it from what is essentially a start-up phase and make it business as usual not just in flagship major projects, but how do we make it normal across a much broader range of construction projects in many more

regional locations across Victoria?”

She says Infrastructure Victoria know of examples of regions in Victoria where much of their construction and demolition waste is going to landfill, because they don’t have processing facilities locally and it is too expensive to transport it to Melbourne to be crushed and reprocessed.

Giving regional contractors these recycled materials and processing facilities on their doorstep is hoped to simplify the pathway for those materials to be used and recycled in construction.

“I think there is a big role for the construction sector to play by being involved at all stages of the process to use recycled materials from research and development, demonstration projects, updating specifications and standards and so on,” Ms. McNamara says.

She says in Victoria, parts of the Victorian Government are already working on the update of the Victorian recycling infrastructure plan and Sustainability Victoria is also administering a recycling infrastructure development fund.

“We know that the Victorian Government is committed to a range of actions that will support investment in the sector. That includes everything from what the role of particular agencies is and whether or not that is clear, behaviour change programs and also market development to really accelerate the work on enabling increased use of recycled materials in different industries.”

These changes to the waste network, if implemented, could have a positive impact in the construction industry by working to reduce issues such the finite nature of some quarry materials and reducing carbon emissions on projects.

“I think the construction industry is very keen to consolidate their reputation for environmental outcomes and they are also very driven by cost. There is plenty of evidence to show that in many cases the recycled products are actually as high or higher quality at equal or lower cost so there are many potential wins there,” Ms. McNamara says. roadsonline.com.au

45

RECYCLED MATERIAL

PRIORITISED

RECYCLED FIRST AIMS TO BRING A UNIFIED APPROACH TO THE APPLICATION OF RECYCLED MATERIALS ON ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS. WE HOME IN ON THE PROGRAM.

W

ith Victoria’s big build delivering more than 100 road and rail projects across the state, there are significant opportunities to grow the use recycled and reusable materials in construction projects.

In early March, the Victorian Government announced the Recycled First program.

Recycled First will build new requirements into future projects under the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority, with the goal of bringing a uniform approach to the use of recycled products. The program will mean recycled and reused materials that meet existing standards, whether it be recycled aggregates, glass, plastic, timber, steel, reclaimed asphalt pavement or organics, take precedence over new materials.

The program complements the Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria: A new economy policy, which includes the introduction of a four-bin system, supported by a planned Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), waste-to-energy investment and a dedicated waste authority and new Act. Recycled First doesn’t set mandatory minimum requirements or targets, it focuses on a project by project basis. In this way, the aim is to allow contractors to liaise with recycled material suppliers and determine if there are adequate supplies of the products needed for their project. For these projects, bidders will need to demonstrate how they’ll optimise the use of recycled materials. Additionally, contractors must report on the types and volumes of recycled products they used.

One hundred and ninety million glass bottles are being used on surfaces of the $1.8 billion Western Roads Upgrade.

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ROADS JULY 2020

Organisations interested in delivering major transport infrastructure projects will need to demonstrate how they will prioritise recycled and reused materials while maintaining compliance and quality standards.

According to the Victorian Government, work is already underway with current construction partners to get more recycled content used on major projects, in addition to the new Recycled First requirements.

The M80 Ring Road, Monash Freeway and South Gippsland Highway upgrades are using more than 20,000 tonnes of recycled materials and 190 million glass bottles are being used on surfaces of the $1.8 billion Western Roads Upgrade.

Recycled demolition material has also been used in recent months to build extra

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

lanes along 24 kilometres of the Tullamarine Freeway, as well as the Monash Freeway and M80 Ring Road.

Around 14,000 tonnes of excavated soil from the Metro Tunnel site in Parkville is being applied on pavement layers on roads in Point Cook.

Alexis Davison, Director, Program Services and Engineering, Major Road Projects Victoria, says Major Road Projects Victoria is working closely with the Department of Transport to review the current specifications for recycled and reused content to allow for greater use and remove barriers to their implementation.

“We’re aiming to deliver sustainable and innovative transport infrastructure for Victoria – Recycled First will explore new and better ways to do that,” Ms. Davison says.

“Specifications already allow the use of some recycled materials, and we’re compiling reference guides for road and rail infrastructure to ensure our project teams and contractors are aware of them.”

Claire Ferres Miles, Chief Executive Officer of Sustainability Victoria (SV), says the firstof-its-kind policy builds on SV’s ongoing work in research and market development to find new uses and create markets for recovered materials in the construction sector.

She says that SV will expand its work to support the groundwork for new recycled products and materials, through testing, trials and commercialisation.

“Through Major Roads Project Victoria and Recycled First, we now have a direct line for these products to be utilised in major Victorian Government projects, and in parallel, SV will work in partnership with the local government sector to increase the use of recycled content in their procurement,” she says.

Ms. Ferres Miles adds that SV will continue to build on its partnerships with the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) and the university sector to ensure performancebased standards and specifications are in place. She points to the state government’s 10-year Recycling Victoria plan, which includes a $300 million industry package.

“The introduction of Recycled First by the Victorian Government sends strong, positive signals that align with SV’s successful Research, Development and Demonstration program. This has achieved a significant increase in the use of crushed concrete, crumb rubber and recycled glass sand in

Alexis Davison from Major Road Projects Victoria, Negin Zhalehjoo and Michael Caltabiano from ARRB are proud to be part of Recycled First.

construction projects,” she says.

Alex Fraser remains one of Victoria’s leading suppliers of recycled construction materials: recovering, recycling and supplying up to three million tonnes of construction materials made from recovered, construction and demolition and glass waste each year.

The use of these materials is reducing the carbon footprint on new infrastructure projects by up to 65 per cent. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, the company’s efforts are reducing construction materials to landfill, truck traffic and extraction of limited natural resources.

With its Melbourne sites in Clarinda, Laverton and Epping, Alex Fraser’s network of facilities circumference the city and are ideally placed to reliably supply major projects. From the Western Roads Upgrade, the Southern Roads Upgrade, Level Crossing Removal Authority projects, and freeways like the Monash and Mordialloc Freeway and North-East Link, the company is poised to support Recycled First.

Alex Fraser Managing Director Peter Murphy says recycled construction materials are being used in great quantities in all sorts of projects throughout Victoria, and increasingly in other states.

“The vast majority of the construction industry is well aware of the consistent high quality of recycled materials, as well as the many commercial and environmental benefits they offer,” Mr. Murphy says.

“An initiative like Recycled First sends an important message from government to industry that investing in Victoria’s circular economy and reducing the environmental impact of construction through responsible product choices is a priority.”

He says that now more than ever, it’s important that those building our cities are aware of the sustainable options available to them. He cites the Joint Ministerial Statement on Extractive Resources – which highlights the Victorian Government’s priorities to address constraints in virgin extractive resources, including by facilitating substitution with recycled product.

“Virgin material close to Melbourne is already limited. Switching to recycled not only attracts environmental savings but reduces the strain on metropolitan extractive industries,” Mr. Murphy says.

Major works such as the Tullamarine Freeway, the M80, The Dingley Bypass and the Monash Freeway have exemplified the Recycled First concept, as they have included roadsonline.com.au

47

large quantities of recycled materials.

“Current projects like the Mordialloc Freeway, many Level Crossing Removal projects, the Monash Freeway upgrade, and the Western Roads upgrade include masses of recycled content, including millions of glass bottles from kerbside collections,” Mr. Murphy says.

Additionally, he says forward thinking municipalities like Bayside, Monash, Yarra and Maribyrnong are actively seeking out sustainable materials to build greener roads in their cities.

When it comes to the debate on mandatory targets, Mr. Murphy says Alex Fraser does not advocate for mandating the use of recycled materials across the board.

He says project managers should make decisions based on quality, timelines, cost and environmental factors.

“We’ve seen mandated approaches in other jurisdictions result in perverse outcomes.

For example, there may not be much benefit in mandating the use of recycled material on a project that is many kilometres from a recycling facility, but only around the corner from a quarry.”

He says it would be encouraging to see a stronger policy position on the protection of critical resource recovery infrastructure.

“We know for recycling to work at all, facilities need to be positioned close to where recyclable material is generated and close to where markets exist for recycled products,” he says.

“Planning policy has to support other policies to ensure continued investment in resource and recovery infrastructure in Victoria is viable.”

Mr. Murphy points out that even with the introduction of recycling schemes like the CDS and a glass bin, recycling glass fines in construction remains critically important to the effective management of glass waste. He says that experience with the rollout of the CDS interstate indicates that higher overall glass recovery volumes are achieved but recycling options need to be found for the kerbside glass that is seen to be inferior to the cleaner CDS derived glass.

“More than 40 per cent of recovered glass is unable to be traditionally recycled back into bottles, because the fragments are either too small to be optically sorted, opaque, or covered in paper and plastics.

In Victoria this equates to around 140,000 tonnes per annum,” he says.

“Recycling this mass of glass fines into 48

ROADS JULY 2020

The Recycled First program will mean recycled and reused materials that meet existing standards, take prescedence over new materials.

construction sand will be important in reducing landfill and providing the construction industry with a sustainable alternative to already limited supplies of natural sands.”

Mr. Murphy says Victoria has long led the way in the use of recycled material in infrastructure.

“It would be great to see the same enthusiasm in other states, where greater barriers to the uptake of recycled material exist. It’s especially encouraging to see other states drafting improvements to their specifications” he says.

“Clear policy positions from government along with supportive and straight forward specifications will make a significant difference to the use of recycled materials in major projects beyond Victoria.”

The Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) focuses on supporting the commercialisation of intelligent transport solutions. As sustainability becomes an increasing priority for the roads sector, it has had an increasing recycling focus over the past few years.

Through its Port Melbourne research lab and partnerships with the roads sector, ARRB has been testing recycled crushed glass, crumb rubber asphalt, reclaimed asphalt pavement and a range of other materials. ARRB CEO Michael Caltabiano says stakeholders are

focused on ensuring they can do their best to reinforce circular economy principals.

“For the roads sector that means using recycled product as much as we can,” Mr. Caltabiano says.

ARRB is involved in a number of key Victorian projects, including a trial of recycled crushed glass in asphalt on local roads in west Melbourne with Brimbank City Council. Additionally, Tyre Stewardship Australia, ARRB and the Victorian Department of Transport are conducting the first crumb rubber asphalt trial on an arterial road.

Mr. Caltabiano says ARRB has also been funded by Queensland and WA state road agencies to look at the polymer characteristics of the plastic waste stream and how it might be incorporated into bituminous projects.

“The flame burns brightly in keeping the recycled products agenda going in the roads sector,” he says.

“Government is focused on it and so is ARRB – our task is to design the specifications for the future. We need to understand the science of how these product perform and produce the guidelines and specifications for local governments and state governments to use and put in their tender documents.”

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JULY 2020

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JULY 2020

In the August 2020 issue of Roads & Infrastructure Magazine we’ll include features such as Asphalt in action and Environment and sustainability.

MACHINERY TO KEEP MOVING Hastings Deering highlights the importance of machinery when creating a quality road profile.

RECYCLED FIRST A new recycled material program Official media partners of

M1 MOTORWAY QLD Construction progressing in stages

TO GET ONBOARD AND FIND OUT MORE PLEASE CONTACT: BRAD MARSHALL Business Development Manager brad.marshall@primecreative.com.au or call +61 403 993 443

AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST ROAD MANAGEMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE

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Construction progressing in stages M1 MOTORWAY QLD A new recycled material program RECYCLED FIRST

creating a quality road profile. importance of machinery when HastingsROAD DeeringMANAGEMENT, highlights the AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SPECIALIST CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL WORKS MAGAZINE

KEEP MOVING MACHINERY TO

CONTRACTS TENDERS & TENDERS CONTRACTS

CONTRACTS -- IN BRIEF

ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDES AN UPDATE ON SOME OF THE CONTRACTS AND TENDERS RECENTLY AWARDED OR PUT TO MARKET ACROSS THE AUSTRALIAN INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR. QUEENSLAND Major construction contract awarded for $1B Pacific Motorway upgrade Seymour Whyte Constructions have been awarded the contract to construct the first section of the $1 billion motorway upgrade between Varsity Lakes and Burleigh. The works will include widening the motorway from two to three lanes in each direction, extending entry and exit ramps and rebuilding the Burleigh Interchange into a diverging diamond interchange.

Major contractors awarded $301.25M Bruce Highway upgrade in Queensland A team of John Holland and Seymour Whyte will deliver flood proofing and congestion reduction upgrades along the Bruce Highway at the Maroochydore Road and Mons Road interchanges in Forest Glen, Queensland. The upgrades will include interchange improvements, new service road connections on the eastern and western sides of the highway, new bridges and new drainage structures under the highway.

Contracts awarded to local foundation business for Cross River Rail Two Cross River Rail subcontracts worth close to $6 million have been awarded to a Queensland foundation business.

Minister for State Development Kate Jones has visited Redcliffe Peninsula business Avopiling at Clontarf, which was awarded the contracts.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA Tender released for early works on final section of NorthSouth Corridor An Executive Director has been appointed to oversee what will be South Australia’s biggest infrastructure project, the final 10.5 kilometres on the North South Corridor. A $3 million tender has been released to engage geotechnical experts to perform investigation works that will determine the final stage of the North-South Corridor.

NEW SOUTH WALES Engineering firm selected to deliver Princes Highway business case The NSW Government has appointed international engineering firm Arup to deliver the strategic business case for Princes Highway upgrades from south of Nowra to the Victorian border. NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister Paul Toole said the appointment was a major step in the continued transformation of the Princes Highway.

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ROADS JULY MAY 2020 2019

Transport for tomorrow partnership awarded $250M rail contract A $250 million contract to deliver the South Works Package, for the next stage of the NSW Government’s ‘More Trains More Services’ program, has been awarded to the Transport for tomorrow partnership. Laing O’Rourke and KBR make up the partnership which will upgrade the T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra Line and the South Coast Line. Transport for Tomorrow has committed to an Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program to provide local workers and suppliers with the opportunity to gain experience on large projects.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA Two major METRONET contracts awarded Contracts for the Bayswater Station upgrade and the Denny Avenue level crossing removal have been awarded. Evolve Bayswater Alliance (Coleman Rail) has been awarded the contract to design and build the new METRONET Bayswater Station project. Western Australian company Decmil will also be a contributor. The Denny Avenue level crossing removal contract was awarded to Downer EDI. Local contractor to build $120M Stephenson Avenue Extension, stage one Construction is set to begin this year on the Stephenson Avenue Extension after local contractor, Densford Civil Ptd Ltd, was announced as the preferred tenderer for phase one.

The project will be delivered in phases with the first phase managed by City of Sterling. Construction will include extending Stephenson Avenue from Scarborough Beach Road to Sarich Court. New connections to Ellen Stirling Boulevard will be built at Howe Street and Oswald Street with construction expected to begin in August.

METRONET highlights Aboriginal procurement and employment for Reconciliation Week In recognition of National Reconciliation Week 2020, METRONET is highlighting Aboriginal procurement and employment. The Gnarla Biddi Strategy, employed on METRONET projects, ensures the works create opportunities for Aboriginal people through five engagement streams.

METRONET’s five streams include, Noongar cultural recognition, Noongar cultural input into place making, Aboriginal procurement, Aboriginal employment and Land access and Sites management. METRONET is urging Aboriginal businesses, or more than 50 per cent Aboriginal-owned businesses, to complete its Construction Business Register to ensure the business is listed as interested in hearing about METRONET work opportunities.

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