Heysen Tunnel Refit and Upgrade

Appointed as the Managing Contractor by the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, we delivered a major refit and upgrade of the Heysen Tunnels in South Australia, while managing over 45,000 vehicles per day. The result is improved safety, traffic management and incident response capabilities.

The twin tunnels, which are each around 500 m long, are part of the South Eastern Freeway, providing the most direct connection between Adelaide and Melbourne. It is also a key corridor connecting Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills. As part of the National Land Transport Network, maintaining efficient operation of the Freeway is recognised by Infrastructure Australia as a nationally significant issue.

Effective traffic management was key to our success in the delivery of this complex, multidisciplined project.

Our scope of work included:

• Upgrading the tunnel lighting system to a new LED configuration
• Installing a new automated fire suppression system
• Upgrading the tunnel ventilation system
• Repairing the tunnel lining and installing monitoring equipment
• Upgrading the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) equipment including thermal incident detection systems, new and replacement Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), electronic variable speed and messaging signage and over height vehicle detection
• Upgrading the traffic management system to restrict access to the tunnels in the event of an emergency incident
• Upgrading the emergency communication systems, including public address, radio rebroadcast, in-tunnel signage and help phones to improve safety and network reliability.