The M5 Legacy Way (formerly Northern Link Tunnel) is a long tunnel linking the Western Freeway at

Toowong Toowong is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 10,830 people. Geography Toowong is situated between Mount Coot-tha and the Brisbane River and is made up of rolling hills ...

and the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. The project consisted of two bored tunnels carrying two motorway grade lanes of traffic in each direction. It opened on 25 June 2015 and is the fourth of five components of

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC) is the democratic executive local government authority for the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The largest City Council in Australia by population and area, BCC's jurisd ...

's TransApex Project. The tunnels will be tolled for approximately 45 years. The Environmental Impact Statement was released for public comment in September 2008 and approved in April 2010. Construction commenced in April 2011 with original plans to open the tunnel to traffic in late 2014. It carries approximately 20,000 vehicles a day and has reduced travel time between the

Centenary Bridge The Centenary Bridge is a motorway crossing of the Brisbane River. As it forms part of Brisbane's Centenary Motorway, it is used primarily by vehicular traffic, although it includes footpaths for pedestrian traffic. Built to service the new Cen ...

and the Inner City Bypass by 71%. The project was funded through council borrowings, together with a state and federal government contribution.

Tender process

Three consortia were shortlisted and invited to submit proposals in December 2009: *Northern Direct (a joint venture of

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French industrial group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip in the CAC 40 stock market index. The company was founded in 1952 by F ...

Laing O'Rourke Laing O'Rourke is a multinational construction company headquartered in Dartford, England. It was founded in 1978 by Ray O'Rourke. It is the largest privately owned construction company in the United Kingdom. History The company was founded by ...

, Transfield Services) *Transcity (a joint venture of

Acciona Acciona, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational conglomerate dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure (construction, water, industrial and services) and renewable energy. The company, via subsidiary Acciona Energy, produces 21 te ...

, BMD, Ghella) * Leighton

Baulderstone Baulderstone, formerly Baulderstone Hornibrook, was an Australian construction company. History MR Hornibrook In 1926, Manuel Hornibrook founded a construction company in Brisbane. Amongst its notable projects were the Story Bridge and William J ...

Razel joint venture The tenders for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the tunnels for up to 20 years were submitted on 12 May 2010, however on 5 July the

announced that the Leightons Baulderstone Razel joint venture bid would not be considered. On 20 September 2010, Lord Mayor

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is a former Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Quee ...

announced that the winner of the tender process was Transcity, a joint venture between

, BMD Constructions and tunnelling specialist Ghella.

Name change

In November 2010 the Brisbane City Council revealed that the Northern Link would be named Legacy Way in honour of the men and women serving in the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Fo ...

. One cent of every toll (equating to $5.5 million over the lifetime of the road) will go to Legacy Australia, an Australian volunteer organisation caring for the families of deceased and incapacitated military veterans.

Tunnel design

Legacy Way Tunnel - Lowest Point, 2015-05-31

Features

Legacy Way consists of two long parallel tunnels that pass from the Western Freeway to Kelvin Grove going through

, Auchenflower, Milton,

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

, Red Hill and Kelvin Grove. Some design features include 36 underground cross passages, spaced every 120 m, a longitudinal

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Ventilator, a m ...

system, fire protection and safety management systems and

free-flow tolling Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of toll booths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The m ...

Alteration

In April 2012 Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor

Graham Quirk Graham Quirk (born c. 1958) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Lord Mayor of Brisbane. From 2008 until 2011, he was Deputy Lord Mayor under Campbell Newman, succeeding the latter when Newman became the Premier of Queensland ...

was quoted as stating that the former

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

had failed to support during the design phase of the project a busway connection linking Legacy Way's eastern end with the Northern Busway. Despite a change in state government, the minister responsible for the

Department of Transport & Main Roads The Department of Transport and Main Roads, known often as TMR, is a department of the Queensland Government, formed in April 2009 with the merger of the Queensland Transport and the Department of Main Roads. The department manages Queensland ...

, Scott Emerson, could not justify a busway connection at a cost of $30 million. Although the inclusion of a busway connection represented only 0.25% of the project's overall cost, the LNP state government were at the time focused on reducing the Queensland

government debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...

. In November 2013 The Queensland Minister for Transport & Main Roads announced a plan to connect buses from the Underground Bus and Train Tunnel project with Legacy Way. In April 2014

Queensland Premier The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is a ...

confirmed a plan to shorten the travel time of

Transport for Brisbane Transport for Brisbane, previously called Brisbane Transport'','' is an organisational division of the Brisbane City Council, responsible through its related Council Committee for providing policy and advice to Brisbane City Council, and for de ...

's western suburbs bus routes by connecting Legacy Way with the Bus and Train (BaT) Tunnel project. By 2020 re-routed bus services will save 15 minutes per journey. Design options involving ramps or bridges linking both tunnels were being considered.

Ventilation

There are two

ventilation shaft In subterranean civil engineering, ventilation shafts, also known as airshafts or vent shafts, are vertical passages used in mines and tunnels to move fresh air underground, and to remove stale air. In architecture, an airshaft is a small, ...

s. The western shaft is located in the

Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha The Brisbane Botanic Gardens (formerly the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens and informally the Toowong Botanic Gardens) are located from the Brisbane CBD at the foot of Brisbane's tallest mountain, Mount Coot-tha in the suburb of Mount Coot- ...

with the ventilation station underground. The eastern shaft is located in Victoria Park (which now includes a former golf course) near the Inner City Bypass, Kelvin Grove, and its ventilation station is partially built into an existing hill.

Construction

Tunnel boring

Two

Herrenknecht Herrenknecht AG is a German company that manufactures tunnel boring machines, headquartered in Allmannsweier, Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg. It is the worldwide market leader for heavy tunnel boring machines. Roughly two-thirds of its 5,000 employ ...

Double Shield

tunnel boring machines A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for microtunneling. They can be designed to bore throu ...

(TBMs) bored from the Mount Coot-tha roundabout, Toowong, toward the Inner City Bypass, Kelvin Grove. The TBMs were named Annabell and Joyce, as a tribute to Legacy Australia. Annabell is named after Annabell MacKinney, the daughter of the late Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney who was killed in action in the

war in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...

in 2010. Joyce is named after Joyce Tweddell, a nurse during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

who showed immense courage after being held as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

for 3 years before returning home and going on to become Queensland's chief

radiographer Radiographers, also known as radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists are healthcare professionals who specialize in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of pathology. Rad ...

at the

Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) is a tertiary public hospital located in Herston, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is operated by Metro North Health, part of the Queensland Health network. The hospital has 929 be ...

Progress

Joyce TBM concluded the boring of the eastbound tunnel on 24 April 2013, taking 7 months to reach breakthrough. Annabell TBM concluded boring of the westbound tunnel on 13 June 2013, taking 10 months to reach breakthrough. Both TBMs bored in the same direction.
Source

Spoil

Spoil created from the excavation

earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour *Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), mi ...

is being deposited at the Mount Coot-tha Quarry. An 870 m long conveyor tunnel transports excavated material from the western tunnel entrance to the quarry.
Source (p.119)

Tunnel operator

On 16 July 2013 it was reported that

Queensland Motorways Queensland Motorways was the company that managed the 70-kilometre-long Linkt (formerly ''go via'') network of tolled roads in Brisbane which includes the: Clem Jones Tunnel (CLEM7), Go Between Bridge, Gateway Motorway (including Sir Leo Hielsche ...

had acquired a 50-year lease to toll, operate and maintain Legacy Way from Brisbane City Council. The following July, Queensland Motorways was acquired by Transurban. The majority of the toll revenue will go to Transurban with Brisbane City Council expecting to receive between $1.08 billion and $1.58 billion by 2020. On 18 September 2013 an informal review conducted by the

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trad ...

concluded that the acquisition would not result in a substantial lessening of competition in any of the relevant markets.

Tolls

The tunnel is part of the Linkt network (formerly ''go via''), and the toll is collected as vehicles pass under a gantry. The tolls cost for cars at the time of opening in June 2015 is $3.00.

Tunnel walk-through event

A family-friendly walk through Legacy Way before it opened to traffic took place on 31 May 2015, when more than 20,000 people, including many young children, passed through the tunnel. The event was only accessible by public transport, with free bus pick-up and drop-off points located throughout the city and multiple bus stops located inside the tunnel.

References

External links

Legacy Way Website (Queensland Motorways)

Transcity website (construction contractor)

TransityJV YouTube channel

Peak Oil and the Northern Link Environmental Impact Statement
{{Road infrastructure in Brisbane Buildings and structures in Brisbane Tunnels in Queensland Toll tunnels in Australia Roads in Brisbane 2015 establishments in Australia Highways in Queensland Tunnels completed in 2015