Kris Croft: Another milestone for Fulton Hogan’s WestConnex operation and maintenance contract

July 5 2020 marked another milestone for Fulton Hogan Egis O&M Pty Ltd (FHEO&M) on Australia’s largest road infrastructure project – Sydney’s WestConnex.

With the opening of WestConnex Stage 2, the M8, the operations and maintenance contract and incident response services on Sydney’s brand-new motorway tunnel officially began.

The 9km twin tunnels connecting the M5 at Kingsgrove to a new interchange at St Peters add to the growing list of the WestConnex network now maintained and serviced by FHEO&M.

FHEO&M is already overseeing the following sections of WestConnex opened over the past 3 years:

WestConnex M4, consisting of the 5.5 km New M4 Tunnels (since 2019) and the 7.5 km M4 Widening project (since 2017)
M5 East, a 10 km motorway including two 4 km tunnels and a smaller 550 metre tunnel (since early 2020)
WestConnex M8, 9km of twin tunnel and open motorway interchange and ramps (since 5 July 2020)

The latest section provides motorists with a 9km traffic-light free link between the Sydney suburbs of Kingsgrove and St Peters. It forms part of the New South Wales Government’s integrated transport solution designed to ease congestion and keep Sydney moving. The tunnel is equipped with cameras that are monitored 24/7 with 100% coverage with an Incident Response team on standby to assist motorists.

Since the start of construction in 2016, FHEO&M has worked closely with WestConnex | Transurban, who are responsible for delivery and operations of this $4.3 billion legacy project. Involvement of the operations and maintenance provider during the design and construct phases of the project have ensured long-term maintenance requirements were taken into consideration.

Since its incorporation in December 2015, FHEO&M has expanded into an organisation with over 100 employees and developed strong in-house capabilities in maintenance, asset management, incident response and traffic management. It was awarded the operations and maintenance contract in early 2020.

The successful integration of the WestConnex M8 operational and maintenance responsibilities into the WestConnex network maintained under the contract further cement Fulton Hogan’s standing as one of Australia’s premier infrastructure maintenance and asset management providers. Working in partnership with a world leading tunnel operator, we are safely and effectively maintaining a crucial motorway network.

For more information about WestConnex, please visit our client’s project homepage.

Image courtesy of WestConnex | Transurban