WHEN you are set the task of tackling a project of the enormity of the $85 million makeover of the Sydney Road at Kelso, the first job is to split it into manageable chunks.
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That’s the attitude of Burton Contractors, which in October last year secured the tender for one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the city’s history.
A 2.4-kilometre section of the busy highway will be transformed to include four traffic lanes, pedestrian and cycle access and a new bridge over Boyd Creek.
There will also be upgrades at intersections including Boyd Street, View Street and Pat O’Leary Drive.
Roundabouts will be installed at Littlebourne Street and Ashworth Drive.
Amy Bromhead, Burton’s community relations liaison officer, is working quietly behind the scenes to ensure everyone is kept up-to-date on progress.
She’s just given state Member for Bathurst Paul Toole a tour of the site where the initial work on realigning 500 metres of Boyd Creek, near Harvey Norman, is proceeding at a breakneck pace.
It started with tree-clearing last October before the earthworks began the following month.
Mr Toole said motorists who pass that area on the busy highway would not be aware of the massive work involved.
“I didn't realise there was so much going on until I actually was able to go on site,” he said. “And the figures they are talking about are just mind-boggling.
“Three giant excavators worked full- time alongside two large dump trucks to remove approximately 11,500 cubic metres of soil. Most of this soil was used to fill the old Boyd Creek so the new road can be built in its location.
“Seven trucks worked on continuous rotation for approximately four weeks to move the leftover soil off-site, which was then used by Bathurst Regional Council on the runway upgrade at Bathurst Airport.
“And you can add to that about 13,000 tonnes of rock which was brought in to line the redirected Boyd Creek.”
Ms Bromhead said the first “chunk” of the project will take about 12 months, starting just east of Ashworth Drive near the Gold Panner Motor Inn and going down to about Littlebourne Street, where the bulk of the work will involve realigning the highway.
“The next chunk is from Littlebourne Street down to Boyd Street. We build the new lanes by splitting the road into two halves. First we tackle the two westbound lanes and then the two eastbound lanes.
“It’s much the same scenario that RMS are following with the roadworks they are doing up in the Blue Mountains.”
RMS site manager Dion Killiby said work to relocate utilities underground would be carried out over the length of the project as progress is made, as would landscaping.
“Depending on the weather, the aim is to finish by about mid-2017,” he said.