Thousands of three metre-wide concrete box culverts have been produced in regional Victoria by Echuca local business Humes for a major tunnelling project.
The company has manufactured 4000 box culverts that stand three metres high – producing up to 12 per day and supporting 60 jobs.
Each weighs around 20 tonnes and are transported individually by truck to Melbourne where the culverts are placed inside the twin 6.5 kilometre tunnels of the North East Link.
The culverts have formed a service tunnel that will provide clear access for maintenance vehicles and staff when the NRL tunnels open to traffic in 2028.
“The facility is using a type of concrete that adds alternative material to the cement, including industrial by-products, which can help reduce the environmental impact of building and infrastructure construction projects,” Victoria’s Big Build stated.
The use of the Echuca facility adds to the regional Victorian expertise being utilised to build North East Link, with almost 43,000 pre cast concrete segments coming from LS Precast in Benalla.
Watch how the culverts are made.
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About the author
Desi Corbett
Desi is the Editor of Concrete in Australia and at the helm of our magazine for 8 years. She was behind the Institute's weekly news bulletins from 2016-2021 and is now writing our focused news items. Desi has been an engineering news and features journalist/editor across all disciplines since 2013 - part of a 30-year career writing for a wide range of industries.