Pacific Highway Upgrade, Woolgoolga to Ballina – Wave 4 Early Works

Project Details

The Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade involved the duplication of 155 kilometres to a four-lane divided road, starting 6 kilometres north of Woolgoolga (north of Coffs Harbour) and ends 6 kilometres south of Ballina.

The Woodburn to Broadwater service road project is part of the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade. SEE Civil worked collaboratively with Roads and Maritime Services and Pacific Complete to deliver this part of the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade.

• Foundation treatments using 70,000 cubic metres of drainage rock
• Installation of about 320,000 metres of vertical wick drains
• Installation of specialised geotechnical instruments for settlement monitoring of soft soils, including vibrating wire, bored, nested and standing piezometers, inclinometers, settlement plate, data loggers and hydrostatic profile gauges
• Importing more than 185,000 cubic metres of earth fill materials
• High strength earth reinforcement using geotextiles and geosynthetic materials
• Design and construction of deceleration lanes on the Pacific Highway to facilitate site and haulage vehicle movements, including traffic management of the Pacific Highway.
• Working with fill height limitations of 1.5 meters per week.
• Installation of HDPE drainage pipes due to soft soil zones
• Clearing and grubbing undertaken within Endangered Ecological Communities
• Management of acid sulfate and soft soil conditions of varying levels across the project area.

Early works were undertaken to ensure appropriate management, pre-load and settlement of soft soil areas prior to major roadworks commencing.