An Abigroup joint venture has been selected by the South Australian Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure to be the preferred contractor for the design and construction of the Southern Expressway Duplication project in Adelaide.

 

The new road will be built alongside the existing expressway carriageway to provide a two-way 18.5km road from Darlington to Old Noarlunga to the south of Adelaide. The new carriageway will have four city-bound lanes from Darlington to Reynella and two lanes from Reynella to Old Noarlunga.

 

The project, which is being carried out in a 50/50 joint venture with Baulderstone, will also duplicate the existing expressway bridges, lengthen pedestrian and road bridges and add new on and off ramps at existing interchanges.

 

Abigroup’s Managing Director David Jurd said, “Being named preferred contractor on this important project is a further sign of our growing presence in the South Australian infrastructure sector and will provide continuous employment for some of our Adelaide Desalination workforce as that project nears completion.

 

“It also confirms Abigroup’s position as Australia’s premier road builder with several major projects currently underway around the country including the Peninsula Link motorway in Victoria, the western section of the Hunter Expressway in NSW and the Ipswich Motorway Upgrade in Queensland.”

 

The project involves 1.8 million cubic metres of cut to fill earthworks and 220,000 tonnes of asphalt pavement.

 

Work is due to start shortly on the project which is expected to be completed by mid 2014.