Legacy Way

Legacy Way
Northern Link Tunnel

Legacy Way tunnel western entrance construction in Nov 2011
Overview
Location	Toowong - Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland
Coordinates	27°27′47.89″S 152°59′54.17″E / 27.4633028°S 152.9983806°E / -27.4633028; 152.9983806Coordinates: 27°27′47.89″S 152°59′54.17″E / 27.4633028°S 152.9983806°E / -27.4633028; 152.9983806
Status	Under construction
Route	M5
Start	Western Freeway, Toowong, Brisbane
End	Inner City Bypass, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane
Operation
Work begun	April 2011
Owner	Brisbane City Council
Operator	Queensland Motorways
Traffic	Automotive
Character	Motorway
Vehicles per day	34,200 (expected)
Technical
Construction	Transcity
Length	4.6 km (2.9 mi)
Number of lanes	4 total in 2 parallel tubes
Operating speed	80 km/h (50 mph)

The M5 Legacy Way (formerly Northern Link Tunnel) is the fourth of five components of Brisbane City Council's TransApex Project. The project involves two bored tunnels carrying two motorway grade lanes of traffic in each direction from the Western Freeway in Toowong to the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove. The tunnels will be tolled for approximately 45 years^[1][2] and will be approximately 4.6 kilometres (2.9 mi) long.^[3]

The Environmental Impact Statement was released for public comment in September 2008 and approved in April 2010. Construction commenced in April 2011 with plans to open the tunnel to traffic in late 2014. It is expected to carry 34,200 vehicles a day when it opens and reduce travel time between the Centenary Bridge and the Inner City Bypass by 70%.^[2]

The project will be funded through council borrowings, together with a state and federal government contribution.

Tender process

Three consortia were shortlisted and invited to submit proposals in December 2009:^[4]

• Northern Direct (a joint venture of Bouygues, Laing O'Rourke, Transfield Services),
• Transcity (a joint venture of Acciona, BMD, Ghella),
• Leighton Baulderstone Razel joint venture (LBRJV).

The tenders for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the tunnels for up to 20 years^[5] were submitted on 12 May 2010,^[6] however on 5 July the BCC announced that the Leightons Baulderstone Razel joint venture bid would not be considered.

On 20 September 2010, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman announced that the winner of the tender process was Transcity.^[7] The project is being delivered by Transcity, a joint venture between Brisbane-based BMD Constructions,^[8] Italian tunnelling specialists Ghella,^[9] and Acciona Infrastructure, a Spanish civil engineering, construction and infrastructure conglomerate. Acciona Infrastructure is the lead partner of the Transcity Joint Venture who are responsible for the design, construction, operate and 10 year maintenance.^[10]

Name change

In November 2010 the Brisbane City Council has revealed that the Northern Link will be named Legacy Way in honour of the men and women serving in the Australian Defence Force. One cent of every toll (equating to $5.5 million over the lifetime of the road) will go to Legacy Australia, an Australian volunteer organisation caring for the families of deceased and incapacitated veterans, including the families of fallen Australian Defence Force personnel.^[11][12]

Tunnel design

Features

Legacy Way will comprise two 4.6 km (2.9 mi) long parallel tunnels that will pass underneath Toowong, Auchenflower, Milton, Paddington, Red Hill and Kelvin Grove. Some design features include 36 underground cross passages, spaced every 120 m, a longitudinal ventilation system, fire protection and safety management systems and free-flow tolling.^[13]

Alteration

In April 2012 Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Graham Quirk was quoted as stating that the former Labor state government had failed to support during the design phase of the project a busway connection linking Legacy Way's eastern end with the Northern Busway. Despite a change in state government, the minister responsible for the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Scott Emerson, could not justify a busway connection at a cost of AUD 30 million. Although the inclusion of a busway connection represented only 0.25% of the project's overall cost, the LNP state government were at the time focused on reducing the Queensland government debt.^[14]

In November 2013 The Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads announced a plan to connect buses from the Underground Bus and Train Tunnel project with Legacy Way.^[15]

In April 2014 Queensland Premier Campbell Newman confirmed a plan to shorten the travel time of Brisbane Transport's western suburbs bus routes by connecting Legacy Way with the Bus and Train (BaT) Tunnel project. By 2020 re-routed bus services will save 15 minutes per journey. Design options involving ramps or bridges linking both tunnels were being considered.^[16]

Ventilation shaft

There will be two ventilation shafts. The western shaft will be located in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha with the station underground. The eastern shaft will be located near the ICB, Kelvin Grove, and will partially be built into an existing hill.^[17]

Construction

Delay

The initial financial assessment of the impact of the Brisbane River catchment flood in January 2011 threatened to suspend the Legacy Way project. If the project was suspended for six months, as outlined in Section 11.9 of the Legacy Way project deed, Brisbane City Council would have been required to compensate the Transcity consortium AUD220 million.^[18] Brisbane City Council confirmed the flood would not delay the project.^[19]

Boring was expected to commence in June 2012 but was delayed due to changes in legislation relating to tunnelling. Transcity is contracted to close the project by end of February 2015. For every day the project is late, a penalty of AUD250,000 is incurred. Transcity were reportedly negotiating with Brisbane City Council a date extension to close the project by.^[20][21]

Tunnel boring

Two Herrenknecht Double Shield tunnel boring machines (TBMs) bored from the Mt Coot-Tha roundabout, Toowong, toward the Inner City Bypass (ICB), Kelvin Grove. The TBMs were named Annabell and Joyce, as a tribute to Legacy Australia. Annabell is named after Annabell MacKinney, the daughter of the late Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney who was killed in action in the war in Afghanistan in 2010. Joyce is named after Joyce Tweddell, a nurse during World War II who showed immense courage after being held as a prisoner of war in Sumatra for 3 years before returning home and going on to become Queensland's chief radiographer at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.^[22]

Progress

Joyce TBM concluded the boring of the eastbound tunnel on the 24th of April, 2013, taking 7 months to reach breakthrough.^[23] Annabell TBM concluded boring of the westbound tunnel at 10:47am on the 13th of June, 2013, taking 10 months to reach breakthrough.^[24] Both TBMs bored in the same direction.

TBM	Surface Location
	Toowong				Auchenflower										Paddington
	Mount Coot-Tha Rd	Frederick St	Thorpe St	Sleath St	Siemon St	Gregory St	Munro St	Birdwood Tce	Owen Ln	Hume St	Agnes St	Payne St	Annie St	Hope St	Thomas St	Renie St	Howard St	Bass St	Agars St	Baroona Rd	Elizabeth St	Beck St
Annabell	September 2012			October 2012				November 2012							December 2012
Joyce	October 2012	November 2012				December 2012						January 2013							February/March 2013

TBM	Surface Location
	Paddington													Red Hill				Kelvin Grove
	Fernberg Rd	Guthrie St	Royal St	Ross St	Ranley Grove	Ranley Tce	Given Tce	Great George St	Bowler St	Charlotte St	Martha St	Plunkett St	Charteris St	Upper Cairns Tce	Cambridge St	Musgrave Rd	Lower Clifton Tce	Kelvin Grove Rd	Normanby Tce	Victoria Park Rd
Annabell	January 2013			February 2013						March/April/May/June 2013
Joyce	February/March 2013																April 2013

Source

Spoil

Spoil created from the excavation earthworks is being deposited at the Mount Coot-tha Quarry. An 870 m long conveyor tunnel transports excavated material from the western tunnel entrance to the quarry.^[25][26]

Spoil Handling
Criterion	Project Impact
Total spoil (bank m3)	1,235,000
Spoil via conveyor to Mt Coot-Tha Quarry (bank m3)	932,000
Disposal site (not disposed of in Mt Coot-Tha Quarry)	Rudd Street, Oxley (or other location as approved)
Haulage route	M5, onto M7, onto Ipswich Road, Darra, onto Douglas Street, Oxley, then Rudd Street, Oxley (or other location as approved).
Spoil by truck (bank m3)	303,000
Haulage hours	Standard construction hours: 6:30am to 6:30pm Monday to Saturday. TBM spoil (in case conveyor is out of operation): 6:30am Monday to 6.30pm Saturday.
Average haulage per hour (in each direction)	Over 14 months: 5 for excess TBM spoil; 35 for TBM spoil when conveyor is out of operation.

Source (p.119)

Tunnel operator

On 16 July 2013 it was reported that Queensland Motorways Holding Pty Ltd (QMH) had acquired a 50 year lease to toll, operate and maintain Legacy Way from Brisbane City Council. The following July, Queensland Motorways was acquired by a Transurban consortium, which will manage and operate the tunnel upon its opening.

The majority of the toll revenue will go to Transurban with Brisbane City Council expecting to receive between $1.08 billion and $1.58 billion by 2020.^[27]

On 18 September 2013 an informal review conducted by the ACCC concluded that the acquisition would not result in a substantial lessening of competition in any of the relevant markets.^[28]

Toll price

On 10 April 2014 it was reported that the toll for Legacy Way will be announced in 2015 and will be set by Queensland Motorways. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Graham Quirk, speculated that the toll will be about $5.00 each way for cars. The Queensland government's Department of Transport and Main Roads confirmed that a $5 toll was last approved by the Department in 2011 and is adjusted to the CPI at the start of each fiscal year commencing 1 July.^[29]

See also

• Freeways in Australia

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Legacy Way.

• Transcity website (construction contractor)
• TransityJV YouTube channel
• Northern Link Environmental Impact Statement website
• Northern Link Environmental Impact Statement documents
• Peak Oil and the Northern Link Environmental Impact Statement

Brisbane motorways
M1	M2	M3	M4	M5	M7
Major motorways
Pacific Bruce Gateway Ipswich ICB Legacy Logan Western Centenary Port of Brisbane CLEM7 Airport Link

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