Design and remediation of the Mt. Morgan Range section of the Burnett Highway following Cyclone Oswald

A 2.3km long section of Mt. Morgan Range area of the Burnett Highway located 20 km south west of Rockhampton between chainages 7.6km and 9.9km was severely damaged in the Ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald declared event (Event 13A) between 24th and 27th January 2013. Between these dates, a total of 855.6mm cumulative rainfall was recorded at the Glenlands weather station near the township of Mt. Morgan. Within the affected area at Mt. Morgan, the Burnett Highway is in a range which is characterized by intervening ridges and valleys with numerous hairpin bends. A total of 40 failures were recorded at the site. The failures consisted of 10 major failures on the down-slope fill side, 12 minor failures on the down-slope fill side and 18 failures on the up-slope cut side. Steep batters, poor compaction and excessive pore pressure development due to high levels of saturation of the materials were considered to be the major factors that may have triggered the failures. As a means of managing the risks associated with the failures and potential further failures, the Mt. Morgan range section of Road 41F (Burnett Highway) was closed to traffic to enable design and repairs to be carried out. Due to time constraints on the delivery, design and repairs were prioritized based on assessed risk levels. To ensure resiliency of the finished works in the event of similar or even worse rainfall events, strict compliance to the requirements of the Departmental Geotechnical Standard was enforced during the design process followed by on-site supervision of the works by a professionally accredited geotechnical engineer. The reconstruction was completed in June 2014 at a cost of twenty one million dollars ($21m).

• Record URL:
  http://arrbknowledge.com
• Authors:
  • Ezeajugh, L E
  • Berends, J
  • Lester, J
• Conference:
  • ARRB Conference, 27th, 2016, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Publication Date: 2016-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: Linking people, places and opportunities: 27th ARRB Conference, 16-18 November 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction management; Disasters; Failure; Floods; Geotechnical engineering; Maintenance; Mountain roads; Slope stability
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road design and asset management
• Geographic Terms: Australia; Queensland
• ATRI Terms: Disaster management; Failure; Flooding; Geotechnical engineering; Maintenance method; Mountain road; Slope stability
• ITRD Terms: 2184: Emergency; 2717: Mountain pass
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01622878
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 24 2017 12:00PM