ACEGrid® Geogrid Reinforces Walkerston Bypass Project

The Project

The Walkerston Bypass will introduce a new 2-lane rural highway, connecting the Peak Downs Highway west of Walkerston to the Mackay Ring Road near Paget.

This bypass will serve as the official heavy vehicle route for B-doubles and other multi-combination vehicles, including A-double road trains, linking the Bruce Highway with the Peak Downs Highway.

The Challenge

In 2013, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) identified the need to improve safety along a section of the Peak Downs Highway near Mackay, which is the only B-double heavy truck access to the northern Bowen area and the main route connecting Mackay to a number of inland mining and agricultural areas of Central Queensland.

The Walkerston Bypass is the final component that will allow safer travel from the Bowen Basin to Mackay completing the link between the Eton Range section improvement and the Mackay Ring Road (depicted below). This Bypass will deliver a new carriageway for B-double and A-double road train traffic linking the Peak Downs Highway and the Bruce Highway.

This project will reduce congestion in Walkerston and provide improved flood immunity over Bakers Creek with 3 new road overpasses to be constructed in the area.

The project was tendered in late 2020 and Fulton Hogan were awarded the works with construction commencing in mid-2022.

The project required geogrid reinforced soil embankments to be constructed where new overpass embankments were to be constructed over the existing sugar cane plantations.

Our Solution

The geogrid reinforced embankments were to be constructed to TMR specification requirements and a range of materials were considered and reviewed by Fulton Hogan before ultimately the ACEGrid® geogrid soil reinforcement was selected again for use on this section and was accepted for use by TMR on the project.

A number of geogrids were considered and heavily scrutinised by TMR with ultimately only the ACEGrid® geogrid being deemed acceptable and approved for use. The Global Synthetics technical engineering staff furnished TMR with a significant amount of product testing information and data for TMR to review before the project could proceed with the construction using ACEGrid®.

Global Synthetics is honoured to have been involved in this project and the earlier Eton Range realignment section working closely with TMR, Roadtek and Fulton Hogan in the design and trial phase, right through the construction phase.

All in all, Global Synthetics supplied in excess of 500,000sqm of ACEGrid® geogrid to the Eton Range Realignment project and a further 50,000sqm of ACEGrid® GG200 grade geogrid has been supplied to the Walkerston Bypass overpass embankments.

The ACEGrid® geogrid reinforced embankments are currently well underway in construction by Fulton Hogan. The ACEGrid® geogrid allows the embankments to be constructed more steeply and therefore use up less terrain to achieve the same stable elevated roadway forming the overpasses.

To provide long term scour protection on the exposed reinforced soil batters, Landlok® 450 and Pyramat® 75 TRM (Turf Reinforcement Mattings) are to be used on the face of the ACEGrid® reinforced embankments to protect and assist vegetation.

For more information or help with your next project, please contact Jason Crase at jason@globalsynthetics.com.au

**Photo Credits to QLD TMR-Mackay and Fulton Hogan