WHALE-SIZED WORKS ON WARREGO HIGHWAY UNDERWAY

Thirty-two concrete girders, each the length of a fully grown blue whale, were installed by Georgiou last Friday (20 October) as part of construction on a new overpass west of Toowoomba.

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Thirty-two concrete girders, each the length of a fully grown blue whale, were installed by Georgiou last Friday (20 October) as part of construction on a new overpass west of Toowoomba.

Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said the installation of the girders for the new overpass at the intersection of Kingsthorpe-Haden Road and Gowrie Mountain School Road represented a major milestone in the Stage 2 duplication of the Warrego Highway between Toowoomba and Oakey.

“This is a known crash site and safety on the highway will be greatly enhanced once the overpass is opened to traffic in November 2017,” he said.

The girders, which measure 25 metres long and weigh 27.7 tonnes, required specialised heavy transport to move, and large cranes to lift and place them on the bridge sub-structure which was seamlessly organised by our project team.

The next major milestone for the team will be the movement of Gowrie Mountain School Road intersection some 100-metres north-west of its current position to line up with the new section of the highway.

Once complete, motorists will have the option of proceeding through a new roundabout and continuing south onto Gowrie Mountain School Road, or travelling from the roundabout to the new overpass and join Kingsthorpe–Haden Road north of the highway.