West Gate Tunnel Project – Early Works
FSC played an instrumental role in the Early Works needed to widen the West Gate Freeway, construct a tunnel and build a bridge over the Maribyrnong River.
FSC oversaw a $10m program of geotechnical drilling, utilities investigations, site compound establishment, feature surveys and traffic monitoring.
Problem
With the 7km long worksite spanning operational port, rail and road areas, much of the work needed to be completed at night, including during West Gate Freeway lane closures.
Site investigation works involved gathering the information required by designers, mapping out scope on plans, scheduling, developing traffic management plans and costing night shift works. Our planning allowed multiple areas to be investigated simultaneously under a single traffic management set up, without needing to return for further testing. Our efficiencies allowed site investigations in the M80 area to be finished ahead of schedule, enabling design to begin 6 months early.
Solution
Always learning, always improving
When FSC commenced on the Early Works few systems were in place. One system we established relatively quickly was a formal ‘request for works’ process. In the future, introducing such a system even earlier – ideally on day 1 – would help clarify exactly who was responsible for what, accelerating the delivery of long lead-time items such as project approvals and stakeholder engagement.
