[COM] Southern Expressway Duplication | $445m | 22km

[neoballmon]

Seems like it.

went along tonight, seems almost all of the surface (of what was visible at least) has been laid, only spot I saw that wasnt was just after the new overpass at the Panalatinga exit, which was one of the places they had to clear out a lot of rocks.

They have also got the steel frames to go on top of Sugarbush Path, sitting on the roadway near the path so I would say that's going up before the endof this week.

Gantry sign posts have gone up on either side of the Sherrifs Road exits, ready for signage, as well as a couple of the large overhead light up message signs' stands in the same area.

At the Old Noarlunga end, they've started putting in the left turn Lane from the end of the expressway, with the left Lane closed on the expressway and Main South Road.

[HeapsGood]

The Darlington Project is likely to be funded (or half funded) in the next Federal Budget on Tuesday. Indications are this will be a less expensive scaled down version to what has been proposed before.

Once works are completed on the Darlington exit for the Duplication, does this mean that these new works will then need to be ripped up and construction to start straight away for the new Darlington project be in the realigned exit/and bridge?

[Norman]

The Darlington project is unlikely to start for a few months, a year maybe even, considering they have to do the planning, consultation, etc... Right now they are still working on the overall plan and strategy of delivering that corridor.

[victorious80]

If funding is allocated next week, which is extremely likely, expect Darlington to progress a lot quicker than first thought.....

[astromick]

Driving this morning made an observation..... not sure if the signs on the bridges are painted by the same contractor, but one side has a 'horizontal' print and the opposite side has a 'parallel' (aligned with bridge line) sign .... hmmmmm

Mick

[Eurostar]

I went on a 721 the other week and noticed there is a new offramp on the north east sideof the Beach Road interchange. Does anyone know how the interchange at Fountain Valley will work

[neoballmon]

Yeah they've put the ramps at Beach and Sheriffs Roads on the left side of the new roadway, like they should be on any road. This was just made harder when the expressway went both ways, and it couldn't work in both cases.

Fountain Valley will essentially be no different to how it used to be, but people heading north will drive over the overpass onto the new roadway, where it'll become 4 lanes northbound. Access from Panalatinga needed a new piece of roadway to accommodate this. The Southbound exit will remain as is.

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[ChillyPhilly]

I will be visiting the SExy site office tomorrow morning. If anyone has any questions, write them here by 10am and if I get a chance I can ask them.

Fun Facts: 75 tons of explosives used to blast away rock in the rock faces of the Darlington Escarpment. All was reused, both in the road and for any required fill.

Many of the bridges contained all kinds of services, particularly Seacombe Road.

The road will opened at a reduced speed (like the Superway) so skid resistance can be built on the surface.

The duplicated section will provide four lanes with wide shoulders north of the Reynella Interchange, and two south of it. In places, particularly around here, the central median has had to be widened. No southbound access from the interchange.

The second layer of asphalt is currently being laid. Re: concrete v asphalt surfaces, concrete paving requires virtually no maintenance. The final layer requires a day temperature of 15C to seal it. While the constructors have been lucky with this recent weather, any part of the surface that is not completed will have to be done either in November, or on warmer days.

Only one bridge was originally built long enough. The Sugarbush Bridge actually encountered some major issues: the bridge spans were recycled, but the final product suffered a major kink in it. This was the result of the middle pier not being located in the centre of the whole bridge.

New pathway on the west, to be known as the Western Pathway it seems.

'You name it, the residents have complained about it.' A single, fairly tall noise wall will replace a string of existing back fences of dwellings in one location.

Honeypot Road: constructors' contract stipulated that no two consecutive bridges could be closed at once.

Open date: second week of July at this point. Will follow the standard community open day, which will likely feature a bike race along the Expressway.

[HeapsGood]

Thanks for the update. I'm skeptical about the opening date, still lots of work to be done...especially with Reynella section.

[ChillyPhilly]

Thanks for the update. I'm skeptical about the opening date, still lots of work to be done...especially with Reynella section.

No worries.

I'm skeptical too. Structurally much of the work at Reynella looks complete. The new northbound on-ramp was a difficult one to build because of its curve and angle, but all the spans are in place. I think it could narrowly be done in time and still open sometime in July. As I wrote the final surface may not be as desired but this would not affect opening time as it can be completed at a later date.

[neoballmon]

The road will opened at a reduced speed (like the Superway) so skid resistance can be built on the surface.

At least once they open (I'm willing to believe them on the July date) South bound should be able to jump back to 100 as soon as workers have finished in the area, as it's going through its skid resistance treatment already.

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[ChillyPhilly]

The road will opened at a reduced speed (like the Superway) so skid resistance can be built on the surface.

At least once they open (I'm willing to believe them on the July date) South bound should be able to jump back to 100 as soon as workers have finished in the area, as it's going through its skid resistance treatment already.

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Some parts, yes. The northern section of southbound looked like it needed a new surface. It could have simply been that the road was dusty, though.

You can disable the Tapatalk signature in your settings btw.

[alexczarn]

I actually think that opening date could be met...


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[neoballmon]

Would be great if they could.
Still lots to do at the Darlington exit and the sheriffs road exit though, first layer of roadway isn't laid at either.

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[Wayno]

Would appreciate if people change their device settings - remove the bloody 'Sent from my expensive mobile device using tapatalk - aren't i fantastic' footer message that's appearing on too many posts. See examples above.

You know who you are...

/rant