Settlers Road Landslips Stage 1

• Pre-construction safety works
• Slope scaling & stabilisation
• Tree clearing
• Excavation
• Battering
• Shotcrete
• Dish drains
• Road Restoration
• Spraygrass

Loading out large quantities of material from a site with tight access
A large amount of material needed to be moved off site and this required a constant supply of trucks, which faced an hour and a half turnaround trip as well as Lidar scans to monitor the quantity being removed. There were additional challenges with moving this volume of material, including with the ferry due to delays and breakdowns, and the inability for trucks to pass through site to turn around – they were required to reverse into site once leaving the ferry. Once the materials were moved off site, there were challenges with disposing of it due to its classification as a landfill site. However, some of the material was able to be reused, including the sandstone which was kept for the restoration of Thomas James Bridge.

Managing community expectations through effective client partnership
At the commencement of the project, the damage from the landslides reduced the road to a single lane, with traffic control in place to manage the one-way flow of traffic. The community was kept informed throughout the project via weekly updates provided to the client. This included information on the works completed the previous week, the works planned for the following week and whether any of the works would impact the community, including additional truck movements and mass concrete pours. Delaney worked with both Hawkesbury and Central Coast Councils as well as TfNSW. The client was provided with regular photo updates and access to 24-hour site cameras, allowing them to view the daily progress on the project, monitor safety standards and reduce the need for constant site visits, as any queries could be addressed and resolved immediately.

Implementing environmental controls with innovative solutions to supply issues
Early on in the project, the Delaney Civil team identified that the required debris fence could only be sourced from a Brisbane supplier at a significant cost. There were no local suppliers, however the fence was required to make the slope safe for Delaney Civil staff to access the site. We addressed this challenge through suggesting a battered approach, which provided a cost saving to the client and was a better solution from a safety perspective. The close proximity to the Hawkesbury River made it essential to install sediment control, which was difficult given the amount of material on the road and the location of the ferry at the bottom of the slope. Coir logs and sand bags were used to create barriers, with weekly inspections to ensure these measures remained effective.

Establishing safe working conditions
The site needed to be secured before any works could begin, as it was a live landslip site and this posed a risk to the Delaney Civil staff working on the project. An electricity shut-off was coordinated with Endeavour Energy and excess material was removed, including a large boulder and fallen trees that needed to be moved down to the road level. A spotter was used when moving these large materials to the road level and passing traffic was put on hold as an additional safety measure.