Concept design

The concept design for the Woodburn to Ballina section of the Pacific Highway upgrade was announced in March 2008. Further information on the concept design is available in the March 2008 community update. This update is available as a PDF file from the public information section of this website.

Development of the concept design

The development of the concept design for the Woodburn to Ballina project is documented in the Concept Design Report which is available as a PDF file from the public information section of this website.

The concept design development has considered:

• Community feedback from the preferred route display.
• Ongoing consultation with key stakeholders (affected landowners, government agencies and local authorities).
• Preferred route field investigations (geotechnical, ground survey, heritage and ecology).
• Traffic modelling.
• Hydraulic modelling of the Richmond River floodplain, Duck Creek and Emigrant Creek floodplain and other smaller local catchments.
• Value engineering.

The concept design

The resulting concept design is a 36 km dual carriageway upgrade of the Pacific Highway connecting from the existing highway 3 km south of Woodburn to the Ballina bypass at the Bruxner Highway intersection. The proposed upgrade has a minimum flood immunity of a 20 year average recurrence interval flood and has been developed to allow for future widening to three lanes when needed. It comprises the following key features:

• Six local road overpasses.
• Five major watercourse crossings.
• Eight flood alleviation viaducts and cross drainage bridges.
• Three fauna overpasses.
• Two frog/small mammal underpasses.
• Two glider/possum rope overpasses.
• One NSW sugar conveyor overpass.
• Four local road diversions.
• Two service roads.
• Half interchange at Woodburn with south facing ramps.
• Half interchange at Broadwater with north facing ramps.
• Full interchange at Wardell.
• Numerous cross drainage and flood alleviation culverts, many of which would also act as fauna underpasses.

Highway access arrangements

Access would be provided by grade separated interchanges at the following locations:

• Woodburn service road, Woodburn (Woodburn interchange).
• Broadwater Evans Head Road, Broadwater (Broadwater interchange).
• Coolgardie Road, Wardell (Wardell interchange).

Local roads and property accesses

New local roads through the Broadwater National Park and north of Wardell, link the above interchanges shown on the map to:

• Provide safer access to properties that currently have direct highway access.
• Provide a continuous alternative local road link for residents, school buses and motorists to take trips to local schools and shops without having to use the highway.

Changes to the highway alignment

Changes to the highway alignment since the preferred route was announced in November 2005 include:

• An alignment alteration where the upgrade crosses the Woodburn Evans Head Road to reduce the impact on the local Rous Water boreholes and an endangered ecological community to the north.
• An alignment shift to the west near the southern end of the Broadwater National Park to avoid a highly endangered aquatic species.
• Minor alignment shifts to the east on the western side of the Wardell heath to minimise private land impacts.
• An alignment shift in the Lumleys Lane area to reduce the impact on an endangered ecological community.

Further details of the alignment changes and other design refinements can be found in the Concept Design Report on the public information section of the website. Further refinements may occur during the environmental assessment and in response to community comments.