As part of Victoria’s Big Build, the Victorian Government is delivering three major road projects. The 6.5km North East Link tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen will fix the missing link in Melbourne’s freeway network, take 15,000 trucks off local roads a day and reduce travel times by up to 35 minutes. Upgrades to the Eastern Freeway and M80 Ring Road will include new lanes, smart technology and a seamless connection to the North East Link tunnels.

The Eastern Freeway Burke to Tram Alliance (EFBTA) will deliver major upgrades to the Eastern Freeway between Burke Road and Tram Road, including express through lanes and collector-distributor carriageways, a dedicated busway between Burke Road and an upgraded park and ride at Doncaster Road. The scope also includes a major interchange connecting the tunnels with the Eastern Freeway at Bulleen Road.

The EFBTA Alliance consists of C-NOPs Laing O’Rourke and Symal and D-NOPs Arcadis and WSP. We recently spoke with Stephen Corney, Principal Design Digital Engineer on EFBTA, to discuss how the Alliance is leveraging technology, including cmBuilder, to tackle the Eastern Freeway Upgrades—one of the most complex and ambitious infrastructure projects in the region.

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Stephen’s role is pivotal in shaping the digital engineering strategy for projects, ensuring that tools that assist the team with delivery of projects, like cmBuilder, are integrated into the project operations. Stephen's goal is to empower the project delivery teams with scalable solutions that streamline construction, moving away from traditional methods like PDF markups and PowerPoint.

Stephen explained that deploying 4D technology, such as cmBuilder, offers significant value across the entire project team. Traditional planning methods, like Gantt charts, can be difficult to interpret, especially when trying to understand complex interactions between different activities. By visualizing these elements in a model, the technology helps field teams easily understand how their work impacts other disciplines and allows planners to better understand the complexities of scheduling. Even clients benefit, as it enhances their confidence in the project’s execution.

“cmBuilder helps engineers in the field understand how their staging will affect other disciplines. It helps the planners understand the complexities of writing the programme. Even the client benefits, as it gives them confidence in what we’re doing.”

- Stephen Corney - Principal Design Digital Engineer on EFBTA

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Victoria Eastern Freeway Upgrades: A Landmark Multi Billion Infrastructure Project

The Victoria Eastern Freeway Upgrades project is part of one of the most ambitious undertakings by the Victorian Government, with a construction capital works budget in the billions of dollars. The overall project involves building new highways and connecting the existing freeway to Melbourne’s north, requiring the construction of 40 new structures over 6 kilometers of new road. As one of three major packages of work, this project is set to span over three years, with the team currently in the early stages of construction.

One of the biggest challenges Stephen faces on this project is managing the scale and coordination of over 1,000 people across various sites. The team relies heavily on scalable tools like cmBuilder to ensure seamless communication and coordination. With teams spread out across multiple locations, the ability to access and utilize cmBuilder from anywhere has been invaluable.

“Putting the tools in the delivery team’s hands to do their own space-proofing and bringing the equipment to the dimensions is valuable. Traditionally, that would come to the digital engineering team, but now they can do it all themselves. There’s no other tool in the market currently that is this scalable and puts the technology in the right people’s hands with highly detailed resources to plan their works.”

- Stephen Corney - Principal Design Digital Engineer on EFBTA

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Streamlining Delivery of the Project with cmBuilder

In planning the job site for the Victoria Eastern Freeway Upgrades, Stephen and his team have leveraged cmBuilder to gather and consolidate information from various stakeholders. The flexibility of cmBuilder allows the team to test different scenarios and plan effectively without being tied to traditional 2D methods. This dynamic approach has streamlined the planning process, reducing errors and enabling the team to make informed decisions.

Stephen also emphasizes the value of cmBuilder’s resource library, which provides their team access to an extensive range of accurate equipment from various manufacturers. This has empowered the delivery team to conduct their own space-proofing and dimension checks, tasks that traditionally fell to the Digital Engineering team. They are also driving value from cmBuilder’s earthworks capability. The ability to model earthworks in 3D allows teams to test different approaches and identify potential issues that might not be apparent in 2D planning.

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Stephen highlighted the collaborative effort between the Digital Engineering team and the project teams in setting up and executing site planning. The Digital Engineering team initially sets up the map, integrating drone imagery, existing terrain models, and BIM models to establish a solid foundation for the project. The project teams typically take over after this, creating their own scenarios and staging. Stephen sees delivery teams becoming fully self-sufficient in using cmBuilder in the near future, requiring minimal support from the Digital Engineering team.

EFBTAs experience on the ambitious Victoria Eastern Freeway Upgrades project highlights how cmBuilder’s scalability and collaborative features have supported the team in managing the complexities of such a large-scale endeavor. The tool has helped improve coordination among distributed teams and enhanced the accuracy of site planning, making it a valuable part of their project delivery approach. As the project continues, cmBuilder remains a practical resource for ensuring efficient and effective progress.

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