This project was the final stage of construction required to complete the Townsville Ring Road link, a 22 km freight bypass of Townsville.

A total of 11 km of highway was constructed during this stage, including:

• 8 bridges
• 80 culverts
• 1.6 million tonnes of imported embankment
• 300,000 tonnes of pavement material

Earthworks, drainage, pavement, retaining walls, concrete barriers, signs and finishing works were also part of the project.

RUD Australia was engaged by Humes Holcim to engineer a lifting design to position the deck units and piles.

A 35-tonne spreader beam was designed, manufactured, proof loaded and certified by RUD Australia. The beam was a 25-metre long modular design and included cast-in lifting hoops.

The spreader beam improved safety and efficiency for lifting heavily prestressed units.

There were a number of benefits for Humes Holcim:

• Modular and lightweight design, at half the weight of other beams
• Cost-efficiency and fast production turnaround
• Long-term asset gain to the crane fleet, increasing versatility and capability
• Design, manufacture, proof loading and certification completed by RUD Australia

The lifting hoops also had some resulting benefits:

• Safer to manufacture and use
• Easy to inspect and install
• Tagged with the Working Load Limit (WLL) rating

RUD Australia’s safe, lightweight and cost-effective lifting solution ensured that ring road construction could progress under tight timeframes.