Pacific Highway Conductor Stringing
The Dance of the Cranes
Powerlink Queensland, LCR Lindores and Downer's innovative approach to conductor stringing ensured the traffic kept flowing on the busy Pacific Highway during construction of the Maudsland to Molendinar transmission line project.
The transmission line, which was constructed in December 2003, crossed several main arterial roads, but Powerlink's Max Gardener, Construction Manager, said it was the Pacific Highway at Nerang that posed the greatest challenge.
"Stringing conductors over road crossings normally requires upright poles to be placed into drilled holes or specifically designed large concrete blocks. A large piece of timber is then placed across the top of the posts to stop the conductors dropping to the ground, creating a temporary hurdle," Max said.
"The Pacific Highway near the Nerang and Surfers Paradise exit carries up to six lanes of traffic and it wasn't a practical option to divert this volume of traffic."
Max said temporary hurdles would also have presented a traffic hazard when not in use and ensuring the public's safety was paramount during the project.
"The LCR Lindores team positioned 12 cranes in pairs across the highway to act as temporary hurdles," he said. "Traffic was held up just nine times for up to only 90 seconds at a time while a helicopter strung the conductors.
"The traffic was then able to flow while linesmen tensioned the lines at the towers."
Max said in addition to keeping the traffic flowing on the highway, the mobile nature of the cranes saved time normally taken to construct temporary poles.
"Using a series of cranes meant installing large concrete blocks and drilling holes did not have to be done and the clean up and exit from the site was much quicker."
The partnership between Powerlink and Downer PTR, the Principal Construction Contractor, and the close working relationship with LCR Lindores achieved a safe and cost effective result for a challenging project.