As part of Melbourne CBD’s sewer network upgrade, works to install a new sewer pipeline on Lonsdale Street have progressed to Elizabeth Street.
To support the construction of a shaft to retrieve the Tunnel Boring Machine, which is being used to construct the new sewer pipeline, staged lane reductions will be required at Elizabeth Street and Lonsdale Street.
From Monday 6 January until late May 2020, westbound traffic on Lonsdale Street, after Elizabeth Street, will be reduced to one lane to allow a safe working distance. Eastbound lanes will remain open.
General Manager Infrastructure and Delivery at City West Water, Amanda Smith, said road users should allow extra time to pass through the Lonsdale Street area.
“We’ve been working closely with the City of Melbourne and public transport operators to help them maintain normal timetables, however nearby infrastructure and high-rise construction may also cause short delays,” Ms Smith said.
The Tunnel Boring Machine will be launched from City West Water’s site at William Street in February 2020 and will arrive near Elizabeth Street in May 2020. It will then return to the launch shaft compound near William Street to tunnel westward to Spencer Street.
The works will be completed late in 2020 and traffic and on-street parking conditions will return to normal. The works have been designed to ensure business and residential properties along both sides of Lonsdale Street can operate as normal.
The Lonsdale Street Sewer Upgrade will connect with the recently completed Spencer Street Sewer Upgrade and together form Stages 1 and 2 of a four-stage $80 million capital improvement programme to maintain service reliability for the fast-growing population of Melbourne’s CBD.
Progress to date at the William Street launch shaft has seen excavation to a depth of 15m with its eventual depth at this location of 23m.
