Lahrs Road and Notar Drive

ADG were engaged by the City of Gold Coast Council to undertake the investigations and design development of solutions to rehabilitate an existing section of the Lahrs Road and Notar Road corridor located in Ormeau.

The existing corridor has been identified as reaching the end of its useful pavement design life, and with the expected growth in the northern part of the Gold Coast, consideration was also required to upgrade the road corridor to cater for the functional needs of the future.

Following previous roadwork reconstruction and pavement rehabilitation work ADG has delivered for The City of Gold Coast, we were invited to develop a competitive and comprehensive proposal outlining the engineering opportunities within the project. This included the automation of design processes, especially in the initial concept design phase where a few options were considered. This value-add in the proposal was critical to further consideration by the Council.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) were undertaking significant work on a nearby interchange (Exit 41) to alleviate congestion issues in the northern part of the Gold Coast. As this work connects with ADG’s work on Lahrs Road, comprehensive collaboration between engineers, the client, Council and TMR was required to reduce redundancies/crossover issues, and facilitate a smooth delivery that aligned with both projects as part of the interchange upgrade.

This relationship with TMR further positions ADG as the preferred consultant of choice on the Gold Coast.

As a point of difference, ADG have moved ahead of the curve in digital innovation, collaborating with specialist software organisation CDS to heighten their digital engineering support. To improve the carbon footprint of the road rehabilitation, ADG proposed existing infrastructure be repurposed within the project and has challenged the client to offer more sustainable solutions where possible while ensuring safety requirements are still satisfied. In addition, ADG’s infrastructure team in the Gold Coast have been hired to complete the structural assessment, keeping the work in the local community. By pushing the envelope of design standards, ADG have been able to assist Council with identifying cost savings associated with retaining the existing key infrastructure.

With forecasted increases to traffic across Lahrs Road and Notar Drive, two significant floodways along the road (built 25 years ago) also required assessment. ADG capitalised on the value engineering opportunities and undertook a thorough analysis of existing structural design records, referencing international design standards and setting up experimental models to demonstrate whether these existing floodways were in suitable condition to accommodate the current day traffic loading and future traffic loading.

Through value engineering and detailed assessments of existing infrastructure, such as the existing culverts along Lahrs Road and Notar Drive, ADG have been able to assist with reducing overall construction costs by $2.5M and expedite the construction time by 45-60 days. This has been achieved by undertaking structural analysis to demonstrate that the existing culverts are capable of withstanding the current anticipated loading requirements resulting in the replacement of these structures being avoided.

The team  

• Sheng Dong – Project Manager
• Kris Griffin – Civil Lead
• Timothy Fairlie – Structural Lead
• Nihad Demirovic – Civil Designer
• Anthony Rawkins – Senior Civil Design Technician
• Danny Martinovic – Design Reviewer