By: Aaron Gilboy, Stantec
The Greater Springfield region has been – and continues to – grow rapidly and with that comes the need for upgrades to key infrastructure corridors. The Springfield Parkway and Springfield Greenbank Arterial project involved the road upgrade design of approximately 4.2km of a major collector and sub-arterial road. The project proposed the duplication of four major intersection upgrades and a new bridge structure.
Having an extensive background in the development of Greater Springfield, our team was ideally placed to service Ipswich City Council’s needs on this project. Over the last 20 years, our team has been intricately involved in the development of Greater Springfield. As a result, we were able to identify an opportunity to progress the upgrade to the Springfield Parkway and Springfield Greenbank Arterial concurrently with the delivery of enabling works for the Brisbane Lions Training Facility (at the Brighton Homes Arena). This resulted in an opportunity to create an integrated design outcome between the projects. The successful partnership resulted in an improved result for the community and cost savings for both projects.
Throughout the broader lifecycle of the project, the Stantec team worked with multiple state government agencies, Ipswich City Council, Springfield City Group, and the Brisbane Lions as key stakeholders of the project. Our understanding of the stakeholders and community’s key interests as well as the Greater Springfield area, streamlined collaboration with all interested parties to deliver integrated engineering solutions across entire precinct and eliminated redundant work between concurrent sites.
The successful collaboration between the parties resulted in a design outcome for this corridor in which the solution for access between the Springfield Central Railway Station and the associated park and ride facility were seamlessly integrated with the on-street pedestrian facilities, the stadium forecourt and existing state government assets. This enabled the delivery of a higher quality pedestrian experience, improved passive surveillance, activation of local businesses along the corridor and maximising of existing space for parking and circulation within existing TMR property.
The Springfield Greenbank Arterial Road corridor is a complex and busy corridor within the region which provides trunk services to the Springfield Town Centre and connectivity between key activity centres. A key engineering challenge to this, and all projects within the corridor, was the staging and planning of major service relocations and construction works to meet the needs of all projects. By considering the combined project scope holistically, the early delivery of interface works and relocation of services during early works periods to suit final corridor configurations delivered significant cost and program savings by eliminating large amounts of temporary works construction between projects.
Our team provided Ipswich City Council with a comprehensive suite of engineering consultancy services to facilitate the delivery of the road upgrades. These services included concept engineering design, detailed engineering design, hydrological and hydraulic modelling, landscape design, street lighting design, traffic signal design, structural bridge design, utilities design and coordination, and construction support. We also engaged with state government and integrated the railway station priority parking and access, and assisted in managing the delivery of upgrades to the Centenary Highway Off-Ramp to provide improved access to the railway station’s park and ride facility.
The partnership between the respective projects throughout the design and delivery phases served to create a seamless integration of outcomes for the area. The Brisbane Lions Training Facility project’s early works provided stormwater discharge, resolved regional contaminated land issues within the corridor, and completed demolition works within the road verges and existing TMR car parking interfaces consistent with ultimate design requirements. The road construction works were staged to allow for early delivery of upgrade works to the stadium frontage which resulted in the ultimate access conditions being delivered up-front, removing the need for staged construction and live traffic works. This resulted in a completed site frontage in time for the 2022 AFLW grand final event.
A six-year community consultation process was completed with authorities, Springfield City Group, community groups and Brisbane Lions members and fans to ensure that the ultimate design would meet all stakeholder requirements and deliver an integrated precinct which connect this busy area of the Springfield Town Centre.
The key community benefits include the establishment of a realigned creek corridor which will contain pedestrian pathway and cycleway corridors that integrate with the publicly accessible corridors surrounding the training facility. An integrated pedestrian movement corridor between the TMR multi-level park and ride facility and the Springfield Central Railway Station via Springfield Greenbank Arterial pedestrian pathways, the stadium forecourt and future business precinct, provides excellent amenity and will stimulate local business. Cross-utilisation of the multi-level park and ride facility as a game day parking option provides supplemental income to TMR and increases utilisation of this facility during typically off-peak times.
The resulting works provide a lasting legacy to the surrounding area and are a strong example of public works in action. The completed construction works within the corridor have established infrastructure which will service the community through the anticipated ultimate population growth and are able to be further upgraded to suit future planning. The training facility has been planned for modulation expansion as a potential Brisbane 2032 Olympic venue and to allow for continued expansion of Ipswich City Council’s open space network with this site as a key activity location within the future town centre.
Visit the Stantec website here.
