Providing detailed design services for a highway upgrade that improves road safety and protects local fauna

Woolgoolga to Ballina Portion C – Detailed Design

When a highway needs improving to keep people safe, care must also be taken to keep local fauna safe too. Looking to improve road safety, reduce highway congestion, and provide a safer local road network, the Woolgoolga to Ballina (W2B) project involved upgrading the existing Pacific Highway to a dual carriageway configuration—enlarging the two-lane road in Grafton to a four-lane motorway.

Our team helped design Portion C of the highway, comprised of sections 7, 8, and 9, with a series of coastal foothills, soft soils, and floodplains. To prevent koalas and local fauna being impacted by the upgrade, we designed 28 wildlife crossings along the length of the project to allow for movement of animals under the highway. We implemented a fencing strategy to encourage fauna in the area to use the crossings, rather than trying to cross the roads. Wildlife crossings include dedicated and incidental underpasses, overpasses, glider poles, widened medians, and rope bridges. We also designed the bridges and culverts to enable the slow-moving Oxleyan pygmy perch—an endangered native fish—to move under the motorway.

Detailed design recommendations helped our client meet regulatory requirements and community expectations—keeping koalas, fish, and people safe during construction and into the future.