Isabella Nichols Visits Toowoomba Second Range Crossing

• Bella took advantage of some rare downtime by having us show her a day in the life of an engineer when she visited the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing.

With the world surfing league postponed, ACCIONA ambassador Isabella Nichols has spent a lot more time at home on Coolum Beach. Bella took advantage of this rare downtime by having us show her a day in the life of an engineer when she visited the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC) on Wednesday 17 June.

TSRC Engineering Manager Duncan Moore provided Bella (herself a student engineer) with an overview of the project, introduced her to the team in Toowoomba and then took her out on-site to see some key project items, such as Embankment 24, the largest man-made embankment in Australia, and the 800m long viaduct.

“Thanks for letting me play engineer up in Toowoomba,” said Bella. “It was amazing to see what the team has accomplished on the project.”

ACCIONA, as a Design and Construct JV partner of the Nexus Infrastructure consortium, was awarded the contract to design and construct the TSRC. The 41km-long crossing connects the Warrego Highway at Helidon Spa in the east with the Gore Highway at Athol in the west, via Charlton.

Key features of the D&C solution for TSRC include:

• 4 lanes from Warrego Highway east interchange to Warrego Highway west
• Grade separated interchanges at Warrego Highway west, Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road interchange and Gore Highway
• A grade separated connection to Mort Street
• A ~30m deep cutting at the top of the Toowoomba Range constructed as an alternative to the tunnel solution detailed in the reference design to allow all heavy vehicles, including dangerous goods carriers and over-dimensional vehicles, to use the TSRC
• An 800m long viaduct built over the existing Queensland Rail line, and
• Continuity of the New England Highway through a new bridge over the cutting.

Learn more about the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing Project here.