Technical Advice - Western Distributor

Since the middle of 2015 Smedley Technical and Strategic has been providing ongoing advisory services to the Department of Economic Development Jobs Transport and Resources in relation to the Western Distributor Project.  

The Western Distributor is a $5.5 billion project which involves widening the West Gate Freeway from 8 to 12 lanes between the M80 and Williamstown Road, a tunnel under Yarraville and a second river crossing over the Maribyrnong River. The project then extends through an elevated road along Footscray Road with direct links to the Port of Melbourne, CityLink and links to bypass traffic around the CBD.

Smedley Technical and Strategic has provided technical direction into the development of the Government reference business case, the development of an initial State Concept Design, the proposed tolling structure and the ongoing review and evaluation of the Market Led Proposal from Transurban.

The Victorian Government has now elected to progress the project through exclusive negotiations with Transurban as part of Stage 4 of the State's Market-led Proposals Guideline. Smedley Technical and Strategic is continuing to provide direction and assistance to the State team with respect to the technical aspects of these ongoing negotiations.

Welcoming Richard Warwick

Smedley Technical & Strategic is delighted to welcome Richard Warwick to the team. Richard brings over 40 years of experience in the planning and delivery of major transport infrastructure. This experience includes leadership roles in both the Public and Private sector. 

Richard’s varied experience includes project and construction management for major transport projects such as the Western Ring Road, Eastern Freeway, Calder Freeway and the Craigieburn Bypass. He has undertaken Independent Reviewer roles for VicRoads and was an integral member of the Alliance Leadership team for the Regional Rail Link Package B – Southern Cross to Footscray.

Richard has significant experience in overseeing major planning studies and Environmental Effects Statements (EES) in Victoria. Richard was the Project Director for most of the recent major transport EES studies, such as the Calder Freeway, Western Highway Project, the Princes Highway Duplication and the Peninsula Link Project. Richard was also the Project Director for the team undertaking the Comprehensive Impact statement for the East West Link as well as providing overall engineering input to the project.

Technical Innovation - Diverging Diamond Interchange

In 2014, Shaun undertook a study tour to investigate the concept of diverging diamond interchanges (DDI). These revolutionary new interchanges are growing rapidly in number across the United States for their ability to efficiently manage competing traffic flows with reduced delay and infrastructure cost. The design takes the opposing traffic, through and left turning movements (right turn movements in Australia), and manoeuvres them onto the opposite carriageway through the intersection. Thereby allowing the turning traffic to make their turn unopposed.

This tour involved viewing sites in Reno Nevada, Springfield Missouri and Lexington Kentucky. Six interchanges were studied across the US and this incorporated meetings and workshops with the various County and State transport representatives. The tour also investigated two DDI’s in Paris, including the location of the first DDI in the world. The study tour concluded that these innovative solutions are indeed worth investing in for Australian traffic conditions with potential for significant benefits to be achieved in reducing intersection delay, accident rates and infrastructure costs. However, as these interchanges require drivers to undertake unfamiliar manoeuvrers through the interchange, care should be taken with respect to safe design and education/communication with the travelling public. Also, these solutions are not appropriate for all interchanges especially those that incorporate bus lanes and extremely high right turning movements that require a significant number of lanes. We understand that VicRoads has earmarked the first site to undertake a pilot of this solution and we look forward to seeing it’s progress.

Influencing Transport Policy - Free Tram Zone

In 2008 and 2009, Shaun was part of the Committee for Melbourne’s Future Focus Group. This leadership program was established by the Committee to develop the next generation of Melbourne’s leading professionals. As part of that program, Shaun was an integral member of the Free in the CBD / CityTram project team. The aim of this project was for tram travel in the Melbourne CBD and Docklands precinct to be made free-of-charge to enhance the liveability of the CBD and make it a more enjoyable place to visit, work, learn and live in. For some years after completing the program, Shaun and members of the project team continued to advocate for the project.

In the lead up to the 2014 Victorian State Election, the concept was adopted by both of the major political parties and on January 1 2015 the Melbourne Free Tram Zone was launched.

Free Zone map.

Since graduating from the Committee’s leadership program, Shaun has continued his involvement with the Committee by providing inputs into the Shaping Melbourne Taskforce Physical Infrastructure Report and with its Grade Separations Working Group.