A MAJOR newly completed local road project has taken out a state-wide award.
On Saturday 22 August, the Kooweerup Bypass received an excellence award at the Victorian
Civil Contractors Federation Earth Awards.
VicRoads and contractor Lend Lease Engineering were recognised for excellence in civil construction for delivering the $66 million project completed in May this year.
VicRoads South Eastern Projects manager Project Delivery, Ray Paterson, said the award was testament to how the project dealt with environmental, design and construction challenges.
“The award recognises excellence in environmental management, project management and construction practices,” Mr Paterson said.
“The project has received wonderful feedback from the community, and this award gives further reward for the work undertaken.”
VicRoads identified that constructing the Kooweerup Bypass would be a highly technical project with sensitive environmental issues.
“We had to think ‘outside the box’ as we were faced with environmental challenges in low lying swamp and flood-prone land,” Mr Paterson said.
“Protecting the environment and designing the bypass to manage future floods were key focuses during the project planning.
“Designing and constructing the road, and 280 metre Bunyip River Bridge required a high degree of sensitivity around protecting environmental habitats.”
The Bunyip River and Main Drains are home to three nationally endangered fauna species – the Southern Brown Bandicoot, Growling Grass Frog and the Australian Grayling fish.
“Some of the works we undertook to protect these species were establishing wildlife corridors, five new wetland frog ponds and planting 95,000 new plants,” Mr Paterson said.
“We also created natural and artificial bandicoot habitat to promote connectivity between areas known to be occupied by bandicoots and reduced the timing of works to limit impacts of construction during the breeding season of the bandicoot.
“The Kooweerup Bypass is a key example of building significant infrastructure for the community, delivered ahead of time and within budget, while demonstrating fundamental principles of successful conservation management for our local environment,” Mr Paterson said.
