Australian road contracts for Vinci

Two motorway upgrade contracts in Australia worth AUD$330 million (US$237 million) have been awarded to Seymour Whyte, a Vinci Construction subsidiary.

The first contract, worth AUD$270 million (US$194 million), is for the third upgrade package on the M1 Pacific Motorway near the border between Queensland and New South Wales.

Following on from the first package won by Seymour Whyte in June 2020, this contract involves widening a 5km section of the motorway to three lanes in both directions, upgrading motorway bridges and slip roads, building a new service road and preserving the corridor for a possible future rail extension.

This work, which also includes integrating smart motorway technologies, will help to reduce travel times for the 90,000 motorists who use this section each day.

The second contract, worth AUD$60 million (US$43 million), will be carried out by an alliance chosen by Transport for NSW, between Seymour Whyte (responsible for the construction, 94%) and SMEC (tasked with the design, 6%). It involves upgrading a stretch of the Barton Highway between the Australian capital Canberra and Murrumbateman 280km south west of Sydney.

The package includes a new two-lane northbound carriageway, modifications to the existing Barton Highway, intersection upgrades, drainage works and relocation of services and utilities, as well as landscaping work. The Barton Highway is the main route used to transport goods between New South Wales, Canberra and the state of Victoria in South Australia.