Legacy Way Tunnel

Tunnels of 4.6 km in the city of Brisbane, Australia.

The project, built by a consortium led by ACCIONA, alongside BDM Constructions and Ghella, has contributed to the development of motorways around Brisbane characterized for their sustainability in the construction process, efficiency, comfort and resulting journey time savings.

Legacy Way has improved the traffic flow and connections between metropolitan areas and the city’s airport, halving the journey to 14 minutes with minimum impact on the local habitat.

During the construction of the tunnels, the emission of 1,021.37 tonnes of CO₂ was avoided thanks to the solution chosen for removing rubble, ridding the project of the need for 187,257 truck journeys. Noise was also reduced on site, as was the impact of pollution and dust on local vegetation.

The tunnels were built by two enormous tunnel boring machines (TBMs), Joyce and Annabell, each over 100m long, 2,800 tonnes heavy and 12.4m in diameter. They drilled through earth at an average rate of 701.8 meters per month, breaking world records for excavation speed, a feat fully recognized by the engineering world. In one month alone, they drilled 858.1m and in one day managed to excavate 49.7m of earth.

Legacy Way has won several awards to date, such as the“Brisbane Lord Mayor's Award for Innovation (2012)”, the “2013 International Tunneling Project of the Year”, the “International Association of Public Participation, Winner in the Infrastructure Category (2014)”, the “International Road Federation Award for Environmental Excellence (2014)”, and the “Infrastructure Partnerships Australia Project of the Year (2015)”.

Discover the project's story: LEGACY WAY: THE TUNNEL OF TIME

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