The Warringah Freeway Upgrade is a $1.2 billion initiative designed to improve key interchanges and infrastructure along the freeway. The project's scope includes:
- Upgrading interchanges at Falcon Street in Cammeray and High Street in North Sydney
- Relocating road and shared user bridges across the Warringah Freeway
- Connecting the freeway to the portals for the Western Harbour Tunnel mainline tunnels and the Beaches Link tunnels via on- and off-ramps
- Developing new and upgraded pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure
- Enhancing bus infrastructure
- Implementing operational infrastructure, including surface drainage, utility infrastructure, signage, tolling, lighting, CCTV, and other traffic management systems
Our Involvement
CaSE & Pike Design were engaged by CPBDTI as specialist consultants to design temporary works for the installation of the Falcon Street Bus ramp and High Street Bus bridge.
Falcon Street Bus ramp
The Falcon Street Bus ramp is a critical step in improving Sydney’s transport network. This free-flowing bus lane from Miller Street, Cammeray, to the Sydney Harbour Bridge is part of the $1.2 billion Warringah Freeway Upgrade, designed to enhance interchanges, pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure, and overall traffic efficiency. The ramp features:
- A two-span structure with fabricated steel trough girders, precast transfloors, and an in-situ concrete topping slab
- An installation sequence that involved lifting and placing steel girders (approximately 60 tonnes each) on temporary jacks, installing transfloors, pouring in-situ concrete splices, and transferring the load to permanent bearings
- A complex staged analysis conducted by CaSE to determine reactions on the temporary jacks for the proposed installation sequence
- Detailed modelling to assess load distribution, accounting for the small radius curve and the highly eccentric centre-of-gravity of the girders
- Temporary support using shoring towers where girders did not land on permanent abutments or piers, designed with proprietary components to reduce fabrication costs and lead times within a tight project schedule
- Lateral restraints incorporating a mix of proprietary components and fabricated steel brackets to manage high wind loads, skewed geometry, and the girder installation sequence, ensuring sufficient restraint at each stage
- Consideration of construction program hold points that impact loads and support conditions during temporary stages
- Full construction-phase support, including site inspections and on-site presence during the three nights of girder lifts to ensure alignment with the design intent
