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Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Toowoomba, Chinchilla

12d Transport Infrastructure Surveyors

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Consulting that brings your project to life

Call now to talk with Operations Manager, Tony Vella 0407416454

Call now to talk with Operations Manager, Tony Vella 0407416454

“Downes provides innovative, responsive and collaborative consulting services. We are supported by reliable and efficient systems that ensure prompt and responsive personal service. Our team is engaged, enthusiastic, experienced and well integrated.” 
Greg Downes
Directorr

Client:

Department of Transport and Main Roads

Project:

Delivering within defined budgets and timeframes, Downes conducted a terrain and feature survey to facilitate design and construction of the Bruce Highway realignment, from Six Mile Creek to East Deep Creek Road, Gympie. The project included GNSS coordination of survey control for proposed alignment and pre-design detail survey along with the production of digital 12D output files, quality data reports and a survey finalisation report.

Downes’ Role:

Downes worked alongside the Department to provide comprehensive and accurate terrain modeling of a total of 96 hectares, including four kilometres of design centre line between approximate gazettal chainage 138.3K to chainage 142.1K. The survey involved large areas of heavily vegetated freehold land, a section of rail corridor and multiple rail bridges, and 3.4 hectares of road pavement within the project. The site ran through and beside an existing gold mining tenement, which required additional risk assessment measures, safety and access procedures.

During the project, Downes adopted the below methodology:

- To ensure precision, Downes established and observed a primary GNSS control network to provide a network of Permanent Survey Marks with Map Grid of Australia (MGA94) Second Order, Class A coordinates
- We held fixed the primary control network and established primary and secondary traverses between the Permanent Survey Marks, and subsequently adjusted using the Bowditch adjustment method
- Downes used a digital level to provide an Australian Height Datum (AHD) level on each monument, recovery mark and quality assurance point to guarantee the accuracy and consistency of survey data throughout the site. Downes then lodged the coordinate and level information for each Permanent Mark with the Department of Environment and Resource Management for inclusion in the Survey Records database
- Due to the extensive site vegetation, Downes performed the majority of the terrain modeling via terrestrial surveying methods
- We designed and implemented stringent safety and access protocols to ensure the safety of all workers and road users, and to protect the interests of existing landholders.
- The survey included a section of rail corridor that required the coordination of Queensland Rail Track Protection Officers to allow our survey personnel access to the rail line
- Downes used reflectorless terrestrial surveying methods to accurately locate bridge and electrical infrastructure within the road corridor, to negate access and safety issues that were identified by our risk assessment procedures.

Delivered Outcomes:

By using cost-tracking project management spreadsheets and progress output files, Downes delivered the entire project on time and within budget. Downes’ Spatial Science team accurately represented complex terrain and surface features using in excess of 18,000 points utilising three survey crews. Site levels ranged between 50 metres above sea level to more than 110 metres above sea level.