Albion Park Rail Bypass
The Albion Rail Park Bypass is a significant infrastructure project supporting the growth and development of the Illawarra region by reducing congestion at a notorious bottleneck, improving travel times and most importantly, driver safety.

Albion Park Rail Bypass delivers a 9.8km four-lane divided highway extension of the M1 Princes Motorway between Yallah and Oak Flats in NSW, Australia. This intricate project completes the missing link between Sydney and Bomaderry.

 

Over the past decade the greater-Sydney region has experienced unprecedented growth, a trend which is only expected to gain momentum. To support economic sustainability and transport connectivity as the population increases, significant investment has been made in the construction of new motorway infrastructure, including the Albion Park Rail Bypass (APRB), which welcomed its first motorists in mid-2021.

Addressing the site’s complexities through value engineering.

SMEC were engaged by Fulton Hogan to provide detailed design services including alignment, drainage, flooding, geotechnical, structural and pavement design. Over the two years of construction we formed a strong partnership with Fulton Hogan and delivered exceptional project outcomes.

In partnership with Fulton Hogan, we implemented a detailed design that addressed the site’s complexities through innovation and value engineering.

In designing five bridges, three key engineering innovations reduced the total bridge length (across the project) by more than 150m, representing a 30% reduction in bridge length from the Reference Design and providing a few million in construction savings to the project.

In making design improvements, our specialist teams made best use of the available land that had several challenging elements.  The Albion Park Rail Bypass is adjacent to a nearby airport, and is located on a flood plain, which features soft, compressible soil. It is also close to the nearby railway line and existing highway.

Delivering award winning innovations

In addition to delivering award winning innovations, the Albion Park Rail Bypass was delivered six-months ahead of schedule, significantly reducing congestion and improved travel times on the M1 Princes Motorway.

The Albion Rail Park Bypass is a significant infrastructure project supporting the growth and development of the Illawarra region by reducing congestion at a notorious bottleneck, improving travel times and most importantly, driver safety. Freight and transport services will also see economic benefit in fuel and time savings.

Across the project, SMEC’s innovation and engineering excellence has saved hundreds of hours in design, with the total construction cost saving approaching $10 million. The benefits that this project will deliver for the community are realised through the innovative engineering solutions developed to meet the challenges of the site and to enable successful construction.

This project is an outstanding example of SMEC specialist teams using technical innovation to set new benchmarks and maintain high standards for Australian engineering.

The Albion Park Rail Bypass is an example of design innovation which solves the significant engineering challenges in delivering a motorway-standard highway along a route with alignment complexities and difficult geotechnical and hydraulic conditions. Our teams work hard to deliver industry-best projects, through a combination of teamwork, innovation, and technical excellence. We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to support our clients on exceptional infrastructure projects like APRB.”
— Andy Baxter, Team Leader Roads and Highways Design, SMEC

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