North East Link is the biggest-ever investment in Melbourne's northeast – changing the way people move around Melbourne. A major project with 6.5km tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen, it will fix the missing link in Melbourne's freeway network, take 15,000 trucks off local roads a day and reduce travel times by up to 35 minutes.
Trevi Australia, Trevi Group's branch in Australia, together with the JV partner Wagstaff Piling has been selected as the specialist ground engineering contractor responsible for undertaking a key part of this challenging project.
The JV is constructing the "Lower Plenty Road Interchange" through the installation of 3km of 1200mm diaphragm walls up to 40m below ground level. Four new Soilmec hydromills are being used to excavate around 90,000cu.m of soil and rock to build the main box and ramps.
The Lower Plenty site has very challenging ground conditions due to geological events that occurred millions of years ago. Additional geotechnical investigations and careful planning were carried out, allowing the diaphragm wall panels to be successfully installed.
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The Lower Plenty site requires an enormous amount of specialist geotechnical equipment and a skilled workforce. No other project in Australia has had four hydromills working in one area. The logistics to keep all the hydromills running is a full-time job for the team. Detailed planning sessions are held daily to effectively manage equipment and resources, and adaptability is a skill that our team has that allows them to continually achieve the best outcomes."
