Busway wins prestigious best project of the year award

The Queensland Government’s Inner Northern Busway - Queen Street to Upper Roma Street (INB) has won the prestigious overall Project of the Year Award at the Australian Consulting Engineers Association (ACEA) Awards for Excellence dinner, held in Brisbane.

In addition to the Project of the Year Award, INB also received a Gold Merit Award in the Transport and Civil Infrastructure category along with Melbourne’s EastLink project.

Delivered by the INB HUB Alliance, comprising AECOM, Department of Transport and Main Roads, Leighton Contractors, Coffey Geotechnics and Bligh Voller Nield, the project was recognised for its outstanding outcomes, which saw it delivered six months ahead of schedule, below budget and utilising sustainable solutions.

In a statement, the ACEA said the INB “provides an excellent example of how a close collaboration between alliance participants has added value and delivered an outstanding project with major community benefits”.

Andy Olsen, AECOM’s Managing Director (Queensland), said, “The INB offers real benefits to commuters, as it is already used each day by more than 2000 buses carrying 42,000 people.”

The Alliance overcame numerous design and construction challenges to create this impressive piece of civil infrastructure, which is further integrated with existing buildings, major transport hubs and utilities.

The project has reduced overall travel time and traffic congestion.

The INB features a 1.2 km busway, 500 m tunnel and two major busway stations, within existing city structures. It is the first fully integrated transport service in Brisbane offering a cycle centre, with complete end-of-trip facilities within a busway station, and a busway station that is linked to a train station.

In addition to significantly improving the visual amenities of inner-city Brisbane, by connecting and enhancing existing cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, the Alliance also considered the social and environmental impacts as important measures of the project’s success. During construction the team fully offset greenhouse gases and recycled or re-used 98% of waste.

In addition to its recognition by the ACEA, the INB’s outcomes have been recognised by major national and state industry awards with the INB a winner or finalist in 16 awards.