Abigroup has completed the first of three sections of the Karuah to Bulahdelah (K2B) Pacific Highway Upgrade in NSW ahead of schedule despite losing 43 weeks due to rain. Thirteen kilometres of northbound carriageway were opened to traffic on 25 August south of the town of Nerong. The work forms part of a $245 million project for the Roads and Traffic Authority to construct 23 km of new two lane dual carriageway between Karuah and Bulahdelah. The K2B project is designed to reduce journey times between Sydney and the NSW North Coast and improve road safety on a section of road which is renowned for dangerous driving conditions.

Steve Kiddle, Abigroup’s K2B project director, said, “To deliver this section of work ahead of schedule and with a “superior” quality delivery is a remarkable achievement by the Abigroup K2B team given the amount of time we’ve lost due to rain. We were able to do this because we self perform most of the works with direct wages and our own plant, giving us the ability to increase resources quickly to respond to project acceleration needs.”

Construction has been underway on the K2B project since March 2007. Thirteen kilometres of southbound carriageway was opened in October 2008 and the final two sections of road will be opened later this year. The project is a Design, Construct and Maintain (DCM) contract for the RTA and forms part of the Pacific Highway Upgrade program between Sydney and Brisbane.

In addition to the two lane dual carriageways the project includes:
- fourteen bridge structures at seven twin bridge locations
- two rest areas for North and South bound traffic
- truck lay-bys, and
- local road intersections reconstructions

The project recently won an environmental award at the International Erosion and Sediment Control Awards. The award was received for the management and implementation of innovative techniques and best practice in erosion and sediment control category and was given for a variety of reasons including the sensitive way the project protected a wetland and minimised land clearing, resulting in the retention of an additional 40 hectares of habitat.