New highway closer to opening

THE Tarwin River bridge walkover event for the South Gippsland Highway upgrade was held on Sunday, June 19, with 200 people from the local community in attendance. 

The morning began with locals transferred by shuttle from the Koonwarra bus turn around up to the construction site. 
 

Project director Grant Deeble explained that the planning originally began for the site upgrade in the 90s due to the nine dangerous bends resulting in fatal collisions, the most recent fatality occurring in 2021. 
 

“The site project was awarded to go ahead in 2019 and we commenced construction in 2020, with an opening scheduled for mid-2022, despite the unpredictable weather I am proud to say that the project remains on track,” said Grant.

“A very big thank you to all for coming out on a Sunday morning to share in something were all immensely proud of, this amazing project is coming towards the end stages, in a few weeks’ time we’ll be laying the asphalt; weather permitting, and we’ll be shifting traffic onto the road. 

“This was the last opportunity to be able to bring the community out here and have the chance to walk the job, point things out and for us to answer any questions about how we’ve built upgrade and what’s gone into it before we give vehicles access.” 

The highway has been down to a single lane for quite some time, and walking along the bridge gave locals a different perspective when looking up to the alignment of where the old highway stands. 

“This project is a testament and a credit to the community for their years of lobbying for this upgrade, a very important project that will deliver a safer highway that also takes out a kilometre of road for quicker travel time,” said Grant. 

The project is still under construction, but Major Roads Victoria are working with the contracting partner efficiently to build and deliver the project as soon as possible.  

Two new bridges have been constructed over the Tarwin River as a part of the state government’s major upgrade to the South Gippsland Highway. 

The bridges span up to 140m in length each and are instrumental in removing those nine bends along this section of the South Gippsland Highway.

It follows major works in March that saw 24 bridge beams lifted into place to form the foundation of the new bridge. 

The beams, each 33 metres long and weighing 65 tonnes, were placed by a 650-tonne crawler crane over our days and were manufactured by Victorian based company Westkon Precast.

A new underpass for the Great Southern Rail Trail has also been constructed, with 60m of the rail trail reconstructed and diverted under the bridges and 200m of trail constructed to align with the new highway. There will be no pedestrian access along the bridge once it opens, making Sunday an iconic day for the community. 

Once complete, the South Gippsland Highway will improve road safety along the stretch of the highway, known as the Black Spur, and will result in a reduction in the severity and frequency of crashes.  

The upgrade is due to be completed in mid-2022.