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How Aussie Engineers Are Building the 14KM Tonkin Highway Over a Swamp

Ultimate Mega Builds

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How Aussie Engineers Are Building the 14KM Tonkin Highway Over a Swamp.
Western Australia is transforming its primary freight and transit corridors with the massive $1 billion Tonkin Highway Extension and Stephenson Avenue project. Stretching 14 kilometres from Thomas Road to South Western Highway, civil engineers are building a high-capacity dual carriageway directly across a saturated coastal floodplain. Discover how Main Roads WA and project alliances are overcoming extreme subgrade challenges, constructing grade-separated interchanges under live traffic, and launching massive bridges over electrified rail lines. This is the engineering reality behind one of Australia’s most ambitious infrastructure transformations.

⏰CHAPTERS⏰
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0:00 – THE $1 BILLION HIGHWAY BEING BUILT ACROSS WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S WATERLOGGED FLOODPLAIN.
2:20 – THE 14 KM TONKIN HIGHWAY EXTENSION: BUILDING ON UNSTABLE GROUND.
5:23 – $200 MILLION FREIGHT UPGRADE: TRANSFORMING PERTH’S INDUSTRIAL BOTTLENECKS.
7:26 – THE $288 MILLION STEVENSON AVENUE MEGA INTERCHANGE.
10:04 – THE SHOCK DISCOVERY: EXCAVATORS HIT BURIED INDUSTRIAL ASBESTOS.
12:45 – THE $90 MILLION BUS INTERCHANGE BUILT ABOVE PERTH’S RAIL NETWORK.

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18 Comments

@Tidocrazy 2 weeks ago (edited)

You know what irritates me the most .. it’s the Tonkin hwy off-ramp at the top of roe hwy . They spent all that money and left traffic lights at that intersection 🤬 redevelopment of these old intersections on Tonkin but seemed to have just thought fark it we will leave the lights at the biggest one .. Rant over for now! until I pass or stop at them traffic lights again then rant returns 😊

@MrReality 23 hours ago

My neck of the woods. I feel well represented

@munzy5865 9 days ago (edited)

Mark Nizich probably the best MRWA Engineer in the business...lucky to work with him on many projects GEH CEA - Gateway-Reid Hwy- Northlink 1 and 2 Mitchell Fwy Ext 1 and 2 Stevenson Ave.Resurfacing Canning Hwy to Mill point Rd on the Kwinana Fwy during Covid...will miss you Mark.

@Quokka666 1 day ago

so at 10:55 that phto is of a rode upgrade project in the pilbara 3000ks a way form perth HAHAHAHAH

@JeremyHooper 6 days ago

I wish you showed a map showing the location of the 14 km on the Tonkin Highway.

@1944robbo 2 weeks ago

For many years I have admired WA's forward thinking, and this video helps support that.
Shame most of Australia can't react accordingly!

@ACDZ123 8 days ago

Muchea is pronounced mew shay

@BeProductions1000 9 days ago

They haven’t yet done the overpasses on Tonkin at Hale/Kelvin/Welshpool. It’s started but nowhere near done. Just a shame they aren’t doing overpasses the rest of the way to Albany Highway and further.

@29brendus 6 days ago

Bridge launching is an OK methodology for any such construction, but 25KV OLE can be switched off at any time while more usual methods of dropping bridge segments can be done. So the electrcial arcing argument doesn't make sense. Bridge launching has more to do with not closing the highway and reducing train schedules. Segment or Span placement is usally done in a 3 day period, or bank holiday weekend period and obviously the launching decision was taken in order to avoid a 3 day closure.

@dtang3288 3 days ago (edited)

It will take 10 years maybe even 20 years to complete... Lol

@titanspan 2 weeks ago

The most impressive thing about building this 14 km highway over a swamp isn’t the distance—it’s how engineers have to create a stable road foundation where the ground itself is soft, wet, and constantly moving. The real engineering challenge is controlling settlement and drainage so the highway remains stable for decades.

@randomdavid 2 weeks ago

Ah unless I'm mistaken, the hale road, welshpool rd east and kelvin road is still a major bottleneck, as it's still traffic light controlled. Unless they did all this work since 5pm today (aka 3 hours ago)

@michaelross347 8 days ago

Lol this project is only 8 months into a 4 year build.

@michaelholder8896 2 weeks ago

think you need to get out and have a look your all over perth

@cognitor900 9 days ago

It’s always been said that the Liberals build the flat highway asphalt and Labor has to build the overpasses and bridges..
Anyway, these (when finished and I had to singly and individually shoulder the frustrations of the magnificent Willem Wadandi superhighway in the south western part of the country) will be fantastic. It’s easy to bag the government but new(promised decades ago) rail lines and stations and upgrading the road infrastructure has been terrific.
Thanks from a jaded aged voter (however can we have less speed cameras please and be German and drive faster. We’re all going to cope with increased speed and stop nannying us all).

@29brendus 6 days ago

The construction videos need to get off the carbon footprint LIE. The Climate Change agenda is now a proven hoax, concocted for societal control, taxes, and lining consultants and politicians pockets. The same applies to the Health & Safety game. The world needs carbon, especailly arid area like Western Australia, and as for H&S, people need to be responsible for their own safety. Without Carbon, we would not exist and neither would any plant life.

@zeljkozerjavic4297 11 days ago

THEY SPEND HUGE MONEY AND TIME ON TONKIN LEACH HIGHWAYS INTERCONNECTION

AND INSTEAD 4 LANES NORTH SOUTH THEY CREATED UNBELIVABLE BOTLE NECK

ONLY 2 LANES IN ONE DIRECTION NORTH SOUTH ON TONKIN HIGHWAY , JUST UNBELIVABLE STUPIDITY??????

@mungogerryjnr 9 days ago

Labor wouldn’t have a single decent concept!
The northern new end of Tonkin was great till the masses turned up
Now four lanes aren’t enough at peak hour.
The old Tonkin has traffic lights every 2kms,an absolute nightmare for trucks.These fckn ridiculous controlled traffic lights are impossible to predict and having to pull up 100 tonnes cause one car has just turned up is insane.
Now the southern end will be modern with fly overs etc it will be like 1960 stuck in the middle of 2030

Talking about time
The Thomas road upgrade was like watching paint dry.
No where else on the planet take 3 years for 10 kms!