Hume City Council: Pascoe Vale Road Fence
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The Broadmeadows community has long suffered high unemployment, commission homes and poor infrastructure. The label “Capital of the North” (Premier John Brumby) was a recognition of the strategic importance of Broadmeadows and an attempt to inspire civic development, design excellence and community pride.
Pascoe Vale Road has long been the gateway to Broadmeadows with its weed ravaged, graffitied eastern rail corridor. This project aimed to remove the rusted cyclone mesh fence and creeper and replace the fence with an inspiring facade that lifted the community’s pride, heralded a reborn Broadmeadows and achieved all the safety requirements for rail and road authorities.
Positive Impact of the Project
The Pascoe Vale Road Gateway Enhancement Project, is located in a high profile location inMelbourne’s north. The design had to get the approval of the local community, the Councillors, the various rail authorities ie. VicTrack, Metro Trains, Vline and ARTC and finally VicRoads before the works could commence.
The design proposal was to replace the cyclone fence with an attractive but suitable alternative fence that hid the unsightly rail reserve, was easy to maintain and suitably complemented the southern entrance to the Broadmeadows CAA. The proposal was a series of coloured perforated aluminium panels that adopted a rail line theme travelling through the history of Broadmeadows.
Consultation sessions with management, designers and the community led to the choice of the exciting colour scheme for the fence. The fence was 900metres long and the colours were in three distinct sections, an orange themed section represented the pre-European landscape of the plains grasslands and orange dirt. The blue themed section represented Broadmeadows’ industrial development pre- 1990’s and the section closest to the Broadmeadows Rail Station and the 5 star green star Council Offices was the green section which represented the new Broadmeadows, that looks to be innovative, sustainable and community and jobs focused.
Three meetings were held with the community and a presentation was made to Council. Several other meetings were held with the various rail corridor representatives. Ultimately after all the relevant authorities had listed their requirements, the paperwork and approvals process began. Each of the rail authority required separate forms and approvals to allow Council to commence the works. Many of the approvals revolved around protection of rail assets and safety near the rail tracks.
The engineering team had to resolve how to meet the wind load requirements of a new fence whilst achieving the Clear Zone requirements of VicRoads. The Clear Zone requirements were met by having twice as many 60mm diameter poles as a standard cyclone fence rather than having larger poles that did not meet the clear zone requirements. This meant twice as many post holes and connections to the fence panels which became somewhat of a challenge.
The rail authorities, VicTrack and the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), would not allow the fence to be replaced unless all the service cables were proofed before the fence foundation holes could be excavated. The risk for the rail authorities was that the contractors would hit a communications cable and close the rail line for say 24-48 hours resulting in enormous costs to Council, Vline and ARTC. The cost implications on the project for this degree of service proofing was critical.
The team, after some considerable negotiation and appeals to higher authorities, eventually had agreement from VicTrack and ARTC to allow them to undertake non-invasive post hole excavation, with ongoing random inspections by a rail inspector, without the need for proofing the services. Council successfully argued that if the fence holes were excavated with a hydro excavator and no cables were located in the excavated post hole, the concrete could be poured without damage to services. .
Time constraints placed on road closures by VicRoads also became a major issue. Work was only permitted for 5 hours a day because of the volumes of traffic usingPascoe Vale Road. This required the contractors and staff to work on weekends to ensure the project was completed as quickly as possible. There were also many Occupational Health and Safety concerns raised due to the proximity of the work area to vehicles as well as trains. The implementation of rail safe-working coordinators, approved traffic management plans and PPE ensured the safety of workers and supervisors.
The road verge between the fence and the back of kerb, which was between 0.600 and 3 metres wide, contained dirt, weeds and gravel. This limited verge width meant the design treatment could not include any grass or plants because these couldn’t be maintained without closing one lane of Pascoe Vale Road. The team decided to concrete the verge and overlay this with synthetic grass. This solution reduced the long term maintenance costs and made the verge presentable all year round. In addition, because there is no pedestrian access on this side of the road, the grass looks real to passing motorists.
Another issue was the ground sloping from the rail line to the road. This meant in rain events the dirt and silt from the rail corridor could wash onto the synthetic grass. To overcome this problem plastic core flute boards were tied to the lower parts of the fence to hold back the soil. This proved to be an inexpensive solution to the retention of soil and also reduced the long-term maintenance costs to keep the grass clean.
The project team were given a time frame from March 10th to June 30th to complete the project including concept, design, consultation and construction. The timelines were not met however the team managed to finish the project from start to finish in approximately 6 months ie March 10th to September 20th and so were able to, with some rollover of the capital budget, spend the works allocation.
Local suppliers and manufactures were chosen to supply the panels and undertake the hole punching. This enhanced the community ownership and spread the social as well as financial benefits.
Ultimately, the Gateway Enhancement Project -Pascoe Vale Road is beneficial to residents, stakeholders and the general public travelling along this major road. The project team overcame many barriers and set backs, but in the end detailed planning throughout the design stages as well as excellent project management, led to an outstanding roadside feature. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and the project team have successfully turned an eyesore into an eye catching entrance to the “Capital of the North”.