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Speaker 1: As plenty of you will know, Tiger Brennan Drive and

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Speaker 1: beharram A road overpass is going full steam ahead, with

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Speaker 1: construction of the bridge set to begin in the coming weeks.

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Speaker 1: The project does come after a number of fatalities and

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Speaker 1: crashes at the intersection, and it aims to improve safety

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Speaker 1: for the twenty thousand vehicles that use it each.

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Speaker 2: And every day.

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Speaker 1: Now, joining me on the line to give us a

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Speaker 1: bit of an update on the works is Chris Pick,

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Speaker 1: who is the project director. Good morning to you, Chris.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Thanks so much for your.

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Speaker 2: Time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Chris, what work or how is the overpass coming along?

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Speaker 3: Firstly, the overpass is coming along quite well. The weather's

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Speaker 3: hampering us at the moment, but that's a usual challenge

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Speaker 3: for us when we're constructing in the wet season. But

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Speaker 3: we're just about to launch into the exciting next phase

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Speaker 3: of the project, which is construction of the bridge for

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Speaker 3: that will form the overpass and taking Barrama Tiger Brandon Drive.

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Speaker 1: And so when will the work on the bridge begin?

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Speaker 1: Are we just sort of waiting at the moment with

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Speaker 1: this wet weather to pass.

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Speaker 3: We are, We've got we've got a date set for

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Speaker 3: a closure of Barram Road between the existing intersection of

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Speaker 3: TVD and Marlow Road, which will allow us to start

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Speaker 3: the bridge works. And in order to accommodate that road closure,

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Speaker 3: we've just got to finish off some intersection upgrade works

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Speaker 3: that are being taken or being undertaken elsewhere in the

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Speaker 3: road network at Amy Johnson Stuart Highway intersection and also

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Speaker 3: Tivindale Road and Stuart Highway intersection, which will assist with

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Speaker 3: the increase in traffic that we'll see there once the

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Speaker 3: section of Baram Road is shut.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Chris, what impact while that work is underway?

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Speaker 1: What impact is it going to have on motorists and

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Speaker 1: you know, is it going to change the way that

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Speaker 1: they've got to get to work each day?

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Speaker 2: I'm assuming it will.

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Speaker 3: Yes, Well, a certain part of the community will be

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Speaker 3: affected by it, absolutely so, given that we're shutting that

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Speaker 3: piece of road between Marloy Road, which is if for

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Speaker 3: people that travel along Barham Road and through that Barramer

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Speaker 3: area at the bottom of the Hallerbry School area there

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Speaker 3: and Tiger Berennon Drive won't be able to facilitate that

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Speaker 3: flow of traffic to and from Tiger Brennon Drive into

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Speaker 3: Barrama or out of Burramo, So those people that work

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Speaker 3: there or go to the school there won't be able

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Speaker 3: to use Barramut Road obviously, so they'll have to use

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Speaker 3: alternate routes using the existing raid network. And depending on

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Speaker 3: what type of ky you have is probably the more

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Speaker 3: choices you've got. But as I said before, we're carrying

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Speaker 3: out some intersection upgrade works at Tivendale Road and Amy

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Speaker 3: John So there are two alternate routes. You can get

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Speaker 3: from Tiger Ben and drive up to Stuart Highway and

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Speaker 3: then duck into Burma Road at the intersection there on

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Speaker 3: Stuart Highway. And there's also an opportunity for the smaller

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Speaker 3: vehicles to use Hidden Valley Road and take a back

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Speaker 3: road back into Bremer that way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Right, so that is where you'd said that it will

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Speaker 1: be depending on what kind of car you've got.

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Speaker 3: Well, indeed, you know there's the different roads can have

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Speaker 3: different capacity or capacity for different sized vehicles. So road

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Speaker 3: trains aren't aren't suitable to travel on Hidden Valley roads,

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Speaker 3: so they'll take an alternate route that's more suited to them,

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Speaker 3: whereas the smaller light of vehicles have greater options.

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Speaker 1: Now, how long will some of this work take and

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Speaker 1: how long will those you know, will those diversions be

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Speaker 1: in place?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, Well, I mean ultimately completion of the whole

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Speaker 3: of the overpass works not due till the end of

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty four. This initials of Baramuroade will be between

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Speaker 3: nine to twelve months, all depending on some of the

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Speaker 3: ground conditions that we find there and the wet weather,

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Speaker 3: so that will be nine to twelve months. And then

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Speaker 3: once that works is completed, we will have realigned Tiger

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Speaker 3: bread and Drive and the new section Tiger bread and

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Speaker 3: Drive under the bridge will be complete. The bridge will

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Speaker 3: can be complete and some of the new access ramps

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Speaker 3: between Tiger brend And Drive and Baramroade will be open.

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Speaker 1: Now, Chris, I know that there's been some reporting this

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Speaker 1: morning by the ABC that there has been a major cost.

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Speaker 2: Blowout to the project.

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Speaker 1: What is the total cost of the project as it

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Speaker 1: stands at the moment.

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Speaker 3: Total budget for the project is one hundred and sixty

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Speaker 3: five million dollars and that funding is split fifty to

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Speaker 3: fifty between the Northern Territory government and the Australian government.

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Speaker 2: Okay, and so was it initially substantially less than that.

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Speaker 3: The original budget was less than that. Yes, and we

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Speaker 3: have seen an increase in budget, and so from.

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Speaker 2: Your perspective, what sort of caused that increase?

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Speaker 3: Well, a number of factors. The projectors is far more

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Speaker 3: complex and maybe original estimates we've during the course. Once

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Speaker 3: we started the project and got a contractor on board

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Speaker 3: and their designers, we were able to get out there

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Speaker 3: and undertake some targeted site investigations which uncovered some interesting

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Speaker 3: ground conditions we have to address. The works are on

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Speaker 3: a major freight route, so it accommodates, you know, the

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Speaker 3: large freight vehicles road trains that travel between Tiger bread

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Speaker 3: And Drive and the East Import, so to accommodate their requirements.

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Speaker 3: The project is quite significant. Just as an indication of

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Speaker 3: what we'll be looking at down the track. The actual

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Speaker 3: embankment fill that we'll be putting in place to take

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Speaker 3: Berramer over the new Tiger bren And Drive will be

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Speaker 3: about nine and a half ten meters above the existing

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Speaker 3: intersection level.

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Speaker 2: Yeah right, so make it's a massive change.

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Speaker 3: Well, absolutely, I mean, the road trains are big vehicles.

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Speaker 3: They take up a lot of road space, particularly when

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Speaker 3: they're turning corners that they'll have to do at the

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Speaker 3: new intersections we're forming on Burromer Road, and the grade

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Speaker 3: or the slape of the road needs to accommodate these

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Speaker 3: vehicles because fully loaded, you don't want to be on

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Speaker 3: a very steep slope taking off for many traffic lights.

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Speaker 3: So that we'll be placing there.

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Speaker 1: And I know that you said, or you mentioned just

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Speaker 1: a moment ago some issues with the ground.

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Speaker 2: I may have.

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Speaker 1: Paraphrased there, Chris, you might have said it differently to

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Speaker 1: that made But what do you mean, what was the

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Speaker 1: concern with that?

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Speaker 3: Look, you know, it's the geo technical conditions. Part of

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Speaker 3: the site is sort of in past is a pretty

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Speaker 3: low lying area. So we've just got to make sure

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Speaker 3: that we undertake the right foundation preparations so that we

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Speaker 3: limit any long term settlement in the embankment, because any

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Speaker 3: settlement that may occur in the embankment would be reflected

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Speaker 3: in the road road surface. And we certainly want to

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Speaker 3: make sure that over the longer term that we've got

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Speaker 3: a good quality road pavement and and you know, so

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Speaker 3: we've just got to take under the undertake those works.

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Speaker 3: We also found some contamination on site, which we've been

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Speaker 3: addressed throughout last year. Some of the clean up there,

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Speaker 3: and look, you know, Darwin is Darwin. Unfortunately, we've come

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Speaker 3: across some of these legacy issues that were left there

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Speaker 3: from years gone by, and we've just got to get

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Speaker 3: in there and do the right thing, you know, and

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Speaker 3: clean up the site to make sure that it's right

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Speaker 3: to carry out the permanent works.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, Is it like an asbestos issue or something else.

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Speaker 3: Yes, we did find some some asbestos there, and you know,

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Speaker 3: we've got the right contractor and the right people that

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Speaker 3: were able to manage that suitably.

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Speaker 1: Hey, I know that I did just get a message

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Speaker 1: someone asking what the change is going to mean or

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Speaker 1: what the diversions are going to mean as well for

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Speaker 1: the emergency vehicles with that closure, given the fact that

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Speaker 1: the fire station isn't too far away from where we're discussing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, obviously they police emergency services and the MBOs

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Speaker 3: won't be able to travel through that area because it's

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Speaker 3: going to be fully closed off and untraffickable. They are

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Speaker 3: a key stakeholder that the department deals with, and so

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Speaker 3: once it was determined that the best outcome for the

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Speaker 3: project was to close that piece of road, we go

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Speaker 3: out to our stakeholders and we walk through the issues

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Speaker 3: with them and understand what the impacts are to their movements,

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Speaker 3: and we had a terrific reception from them. They understand

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Speaker 3: what the work's entailed and the reasons behind it, and

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Speaker 3: they were able to accommodate it, and they will be

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Speaker 3: able to accommodate it in what they're doing. So, Chris,

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Speaker 3: I know when it's the important The important thing to

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Speaker 3: say about the upcoming road closure is there's no actual

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Speaker 3: impact to traffic on Tiger Berendon Drive, So anyone traveling

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Speaker 3: between Palmerston and the city will still be able to

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Speaker 3: travel along Tiger Brennon Drive unaffected the current intersection baron

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Speaker 3: the road we'll still operate as an intersection, albeit we'll

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Speaker 3: only have three legs running into it as opposed to

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Speaker 3: the current four. So you know, a vast majority of

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Speaker 3: people that are traveling along Tiger Brendon Drive or accessing

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Speaker 3: the port in the East arm area to the south,

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Speaker 3: it's business as usual for this first first closure.

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Speaker 2: Chris, So I know that.

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Speaker 1: You know, whenever there's significant changes to roads, and particularly

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Speaker 1: with a massive project like this, you know there'll be

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Speaker 1: people in the community going, why do we need to

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Speaker 1: do this, what's the reason behind it? But there is

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Speaker 1: a few reasons behind us, sort of planning for the future.

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Speaker 1: I guess when it comes to this very major upgrade.

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Speaker 3: Isn't there absolutely? I mean that the original initiative for

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Speaker 3: this project was some funding for road safety. Unfortunately, we've

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Speaker 3: seen some pretty nasty incidents at the intersection and some

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Speaker 3: of them have resulted in fatalities. That the current geometry

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Speaker 3: of Baram Road leading into the intersection is suboptimal, as

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Speaker 3: i'd say, so there was a need to create or

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Speaker 3: to improve the road safety there. This intersection has been

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Speaker 3: ear marked for an upgrade and the creation of this

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Speaker 3: interchange or grade separated interchange in the master planning for

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Speaker 3: a long time. So by undertaking it we can address

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Speaker 3: the road safety issues. It provides road users with improved

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Speaker 3: traffic flow, reduced delays because there's one less intersection, particularly

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Speaker 3: if you're traveling along Tiger Bridge and drive, there's one

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Speaker 3: less set of traffic lights that you have to go through,

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Speaker 3: and it will help more efficient movement for those vehicles

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Speaker 3: to and from the East Arm area.

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Speaker 1: Churse, just before I let you go, what's the next

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Speaker 1: stage of work after the bridge is built? Well?

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Speaker 3: Once we've built the bridge, completed the realignment of Tiger

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Speaker 3: brew And Drive and opened up some of the excess ramps,

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Speaker 3: then the second stage is to close Bermi Road to

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Speaker 3: the south of the existing intersection or crossings in existing

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Speaker 3: intersection and to the south to complete the road embankment there,

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Speaker 3: and that will occur from early next year through until

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Speaker 3: the end of next year. The key point about that

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Speaker 3: is that that will have more of an effect for

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Speaker 3: people traveling to and from the East Armport area and

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Speaker 3: to sort of address the increased traffic flow that we'll

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Speaker 3: see there is later this year we'll be doing some

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Speaker 3: targeted upgrade works at the intersection of Tiger burn and

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Speaker 3: Drive and Wishart Road and also Wishart Road and Kirkland Road,

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Speaker 3: so there'll be increased capacity there for people to make

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Speaker 3: turning movements. And that intersection has performances degraded over the

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Speaker 3: years since it was still built, so it'll address both

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Speaker 3: the short term needs of the second closure, but it

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Speaker 3: will also provide a long term benefit for people that

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Speaker 3: use that route to get to Kirklan Road and the

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Speaker 3: East Armport.

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Speaker 1: Well, Chris Pek, I really appreciate your time this morning

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Speaker 1: and answering all of those questions for us, there was

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Speaker 1: lots for us to ask. Thanks very much for coming

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Speaker 1: on this show this morning. Much appreciated you too, mate.

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Speaker 2: Thank you