Milestones in motion at Pakenham Roads Upgrade!

The Pakenham Roads Upgrade project has been completing some major milestones. Delivering Stage 1 of the project on behalf of Major Road Projects Victoria, our dedicated team is making big strides to upgrade local roads and improve local journeys.  

Back in December 2023, the team completed the McGregor Road inbound exit ramp just in time for the Christmas holiday rush. We used a whopping 7,508 tonnes of asphalt and 41,420 tonnes of soil for this project. To give you an idea of its scale, that’s as massive as approximately 20 Olympic sized swimming pools. Now, that's what we call colossal achievement! 

Next, the team were blitzing it in January 2024, with the construction of a temporary replacement of the Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road southern roundabout completed ahead of schedule, in preparation for the new signalised intersection that will be installed later in 2024. Efficient planning guaranteed the timely completion of this task, involving the removal of the existing structure and raising the ground level by 2 meters using 50,000 tonnes of soil and rock. January also saw the team working to install a dozen Super T Bridge Beams over the Princes Freeway. Each beam was a huge 62.5 tonnes and stretched 30 meters long! 

March 2024 saw the team leading the charge on foamed bitumen works, marking a big step forward in the project's innovative approach. This method, which mixes existing asphalt, road pavement material, and imported material with air, water, and hot bitumen, reduces landfill waste, truck use, and asphalt consumption while shortening construction time and minimising road user disruption.  Throughout April, overnight works focused on demolishing the northern roundabout along Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road and preparing new temporary lanes for upcoming stages that will ensure the road remains open to traffic during works, minimising the impact to local road users.  

Successful completion of works along the outbound entry ramp at McGregor Road, saw it open to the public on May 16, a huge milestone for the local community!  And there’s so much more to come! In the coming months, the team will be aiming to connect a new lane to a brand new bridge on Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road, with northbound lanes to follow. And later on in the year, the southbound lanes should be good to go.   

With huge progress made to date, the Symal team are working hard to build better together, promote smoother transportation, enhance community infrastructure, and elevate the overall well-being of the local community.