Brisbane Airport Link

The Airport Link Project is a 6.7 kilometre motorway linking Brisbane city to the Northern Suburbs and Airport precinct.

Project Details

The project was costed at $4.8 billion and used two Herrenknecht 12.48 meter diameter EPB type tunnel boring machines named by local school children as “Sandy” and “Roxy”.

These TBMs are the biggest ever used in the Southern Hemisphere and were 195 metres long, weigh 3600 tonnes and cost $45 million each.

The two TBMs excavated twin tunnels which are each 2.5km of the total 5.1km tunnel length. 1.25million tonnes of spoil have been excavated with a travel rate of 85 metres per week, 55 metres below the surface. 22,000 pre-cast concrete segments were used to make up the the rings that form the tunnel lining.

The tunnel constructor was John Holland Tunnelling.

Outcomes

The tunnelling component of the project was completed on 6th. July 2011 when “Sandy” broke through into the cavern at Wooloowin. Airport Link is opened in July 2012.