Managing soil in Sunbury
Trucks are carrying soil along Sunbury Road daily as we remove the Gap Road level crossing and build the West Gate Tunnel.
The level crossing excavation works are due to be complete by this spring, while dirt from the West Gate Tunnel is being moved to the Hi-Quality Eco-Hub 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until mid 2023.
Cleaning Sunbury Road Sunbury Road is being cleaned multiple times a day, 7 days a week to make sure the road is as clean as possible.Allow more travel time Allow an extra 15 minutes’ travel time if driving through Sunbury during the Gap Road closure.Real time traffic You can use online tools, like Google Maps, Apple Maps and WAZE, to map traffic congestion in real time.
Frequently asked questions
As the Gap Road level crossing is removed, crews will excavate 25,000 cubic metres of soil to make way for the new road underpass – enough to fill 10 Olympic swimming pools.
Around 1.5 million cubic metres of soil is expected to be excavated during tunnelling on the West Gate Tunnel Project.
Between the Gap Road works and the West Gate Tunnel Project there’ll be hundreds of trucks on Sunbury Road each day.
The majority of excavation work on the Gap Road Level crossing will be completed by spring. The West Gate Tunnel Project tunnelling process is expected to take up to mid-2023 with soil to be transported to the Hi-Quality Eco-Hub.
Soil from the West Gate Tunnel Project leaves Yarraville and uses CityLink, Tullamarine Freeway and Sunbury Road via Bulla before arriving at the Hi-Quality Eco-Hub.
Soil from the Gap Road level crossing removal either travels east via Station Street, Barkly Street, Macedon Street and Sunbury Road, or west via Horne Street, Vineyard Road and Diggers Rest-Coimadai Road, to get to nearby processing sites in Bulla, Toolern Vale and Bacchus Marsh.
In the event soil spills from a truck, the driver enacts safety protocols and alerts the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP).
All the projects working in the area work closely with the DTP and trucking contractors to ensure truck movements continue to the highest standard, with a driver education program and monitoring of trucks leaving sites.
Sunbury Road is being cleaned multiple times a day, seven days a week with heavy duty equipment to keep it clean.
In soil being moved from the West Gate Tunnel Project, testing shows the levels of PFAS expected to be found during tunnel boring are low and at safe levels for the community and the environment.
Groundwater testing along the tunnel alignment shows PFAS levels of between zero and 0.7 micrograms per litre or less, which is between detectable limits and much less than the threshold for water that is safe to swim in.
In the few cases where PFAS has been detected in the soil that’s gone to Hi-Quality so far, it has been at the very low levels that we were expecting.
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals used since the 1950s to make products that resist heat, stains, grease, and water. Products in our day to day lives that might contain PFAS include stain-resistant carpet or furniture, food containers, make-up and personal care products, cleaning products, non-stick cookware and foams used for firefighting.
In recent years, PFAS has been found to have contaminated sites where there’s been historic use of firefighting foams containing PFAS. Over time these chemicals have spread through soil and can be toxic to fish and some animals.
EPA has set a requirement to transport the West Gate Tunnel Project soil in sealed trucks fitted with equipment that ensures no leakage or dust.
All truck movements will be tracked via GPS and reconciled to ensure all waste goes to the correct location.
The planning restrictions on the project set out truck routes and other requirements outside of the approved facilities.
We’ve ramped up the cleaning of the construction area on Sunbury Road and directly in front of the Hi-Quality facility, extending it to occur multiple times a day, seven days a week.
Heavy duty equipment is also being used to ensure maximum cleaning can occur.
There are a number of measures in place across the different projects and sites to make sure we minimise dirt getting on to the road including:
limiting the number of entry and exit points at each construction site ensuring exit points have measures in place to remove mud such as rumble strips at work site exit points and placing extra layers of crushed rock to absorb any residual debris where required cleaning any dirt or mud our vehicles may have left on public roads regular inspections of work sites and roads ensuring our construction vehicles are well maintained. We’ve recently scheduled additional cleaning of the pavement, barrier reflectors and temporary bollards (black and yellow striped cones), refreshed the line marking and added extra reflectors.
Victoria’s Big Build contact centre operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can reach us on 1800 105 105.
If you require a translator or interpreter, you can contact us on 03 9209 0147.
