HDR has been selected to design improvements for nearly 14km of flood-prone highway as part of the $514.3 million Haughton River Floodplain Upgrade project.

HDR said the scope of work included modeling one of the continent’s most complex floodplains, designing three bridge upgrades to make them taller and wider, designing grade-separated rail crossings and intersections, and developing an integrated roadway design that combined hydraulics, structural and geotechnical elements.

Design for the project is expected to take about a year and project completion is expected in mid-2021.

It will be delivered via a collaborative early contractor Involvement contract, with construction led by The Infrastructure Group, a joint venture of Bielby, BMD, JF Hull and Albem. SMEC will provide construction administration services

The aim of the project is to improve safety and flood resilience on the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Ayr, in a trouble spot where flooding regularly closes the highway.

The longest recorded closure was nearly five days, and the most recent was the March 2018 closure.