York Civil awarded $32.1m Charles Street Bus Bridge and Busway project

Construction company York Civil has been awarded the contract to design and build the Charles Street bus bridge and busway, delivering significant travel time savings to thousands of Perth commuters. Announced yesterday, Transport Minister Dean Nalder said construction would soon begin in April at a cost of $32.1 million and will create about 50-60 new jobs. 

Charles Street Bus Bridge and Busway

Funded by the State Government, the project will be delivered by Main Roads on behalf of the Public Transport Authority, and is expected to be completed by early 2017.  The bridge and busway will be built from the current James Street bus bridge over the Graham Farmer Freeway to Charles Street.  Bus lanes will be built along Charles Street to Violet Street. 

"This will result in the removal of more than 1,000 buses a day from James and Fitzgerald streets in Northbridge, alleviating traffic congestion and improving local amenity and access," Mr Nalder said. 

"This is a great congestion buster for our city, with benefits for bus users and motorists.

"Northern suburbs passengers commuting to the CBD could have their journey times reduced by up to six minutes during peak times.

"About 16,000 passengers a day will travel over the bridge and busway." 

Scope of Works

The current plan includes:

• A dedicated busway including a 110m bus bridge over Graham Farmer Freeway connecting Charles Street to the existing James Street bus bridge
• A new off-ramp from Mitchell Freeway onto Roe Street to replace the existing Mitchell Freeway James St off-ramp
• Approximately 500m of bus lanes on Charles Street
• An additional right turn on the Charles Street freeway exit ramp
• Reconfiguration of the Charles Street/Carr Street intersection to provide bus priority
• A bus layover area at James Street
• Improvements and signalisation of the James Street roundabout 
• Improvements to the James Street/Fitzgerald Street intersection
• Intersection improvements to the Newcastle Street/ Cleaver Street intersection to allow bus only access to Cleaver Street
• Improvements to existing pedestrian and cycling infrastructure
• Reconfiguration of Charles Street/Newcastle Street Intersection to allow for the new bus bridge.

Image: Department of Main Roads Western Australia Indicative Map of proposed works

Tenders for the project opened in mid October 2015 and closed two months later in mid December.  Tender time frames like this can represent a series of challenges to even the most experienced of tendering teams. If you'd like to strengthen your ability to write a quick and effective tender, read up on 10 tips to submit successful tender bids.