The Lillydale Road intersection at the southern end of the new outer ring road ties into the existing Bussell Highway. To achieve this tie-in, a significant section of the hill had to be cut away and moved.

What do we mean by significant? 360,000 cubic metres!

If your standard Olympic swimming pool is 3,750 cubic metres, that means that the BORR team moved almost 100 Olympic pools worth of sand! That’s a gold medal effort right there.

The cut was approximately 20 metres deep to get the road down to the right level and needed to use a combination of machinery including:

• Unique scrapers that could both collect and carry sand to the required location (provided by a local Aboriginal contractor)
• An 85 tonne excavator to dig down deep
• A fleet of 40 tonne Moxy trucks to carry the sand out, off and away!

 The Lillydale cut viewed from above

“The Lillydale Cut was completed as quickly as possible, with over 10,000 cubic metres of material being moved a day during the peak. Using the site’s own material ensured as little traffic congestion as possible by not having to import sand in with on-road trucks,” said John McElwee, Section Manager. “When BORR opens, the Lillydale Road intersection will offer a seamless connection with Bussell Highway.”

What was done with all that sand?

Don’t worry – it’s still all ‘safe and sand’ on BORR! The material was moved and reused to fill the road embankment throughout the same section from which the sand was taken. So, rest assured it will feel right at home.

 The scrapers and excavator in action