New milestone for Adelaide's $196M level crossing removal

New milestone for Adelaide’s $196M level crossing removal

A major milestone was achieved on the $196 million Ovingham Level Crossing Removal Project with the installation of the first two bridge girders. Image: McConnel Dowell.

Work to fix one of Adelaide’s most challenging traffic bottlenecks has reached a major milestone with the first two bridge girders for the $196 million Ovingham Level Crossing Removal Project lifted into place.

Massive 100 tonne steel girders to support the road-over-rail bridge have begun to be installed as part of works to eliminate the level crossing on Torrens Road – a project that’s also supporting 265 full time jobs per year during construction.

The PTP Alliance, a consortium made up of the South Australian government, McConnell Dowell, Mott MacDonald and Arup is delivering the project, which is jointly funded (50:50) by the Australian and South Australian governments.

The girders have been constructed by South Australian company Bowhill Engineering. Bowhill also constructed the girders for the Regency Road overpass for the North-South Corridor, Regency Road to Pym Street Project.

The first of 16 bridge girders has been craned into place this week with the remainder to be installed over the coming months.

An average of 21,300 vehicles pass through this level crossing each day with the boom gates at Torrens Road previously down for approximately 22 per cent of the time during the combined AM and PM peak periods.

The project will result in a road bridge over the Gawler and Australian Rail Track Corporation Freight train lines, with improvements also being made to the Churchill Road intersection to improve walkability and create a new community open space.

Federal Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, Paul Fletcher, said the Morrison Government was providing funding for the project through the Urban Congestion Fund.

“This is just the latest example of us delivering on our commitment to progress critical infrastructure projects across the country under our record $110 billion, 10-year infrastructure investment pipeline, which is helping to drive Australia’s economic recovery,” Minister Fletcher said.

“Under the Urban Congestion Fund, we are delivering 182 packages of work nationwide. The total number of projects that are now completed or underway nationwide is 76. By the end of 2022, more than 80 per cent of all packages are expected to be completed or under construction.”

South Australia’s Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Corey Wingard said the installation is a major milestone as the project continues.

“We’ve already seen ten bridge piers constructed and now these girders will really see the structure start to take shape,” Minister Wingard said.

“Once completed, this will eliminate the wait drivers have had to endure every time a train passes through. It will cut travel times, improve reliability for buses that use Torrens Road, increase freight productivity and most importantly it will improve safety.”