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How an orchid shaped a highway
Not many major road projects incorporate a $500,000 research fund to ensure the long-term survival of a rare species of orchid. But Western Australia’s new 4.5km stretch of the Roe Highway is no ordinary road. The $75 million project, recently completed, was built as a public-private sector partnership and was the first in Western Australia to undertake a road contract on a “shared risk and reward” basis.
Not only did it come in on time and on budget but it also established important new standards—including how to best to preserve rare orchids when they happen to breed next to a major piece of infrastructure. The road itself is “Stage 7” of the Roe Highway and completes a vital link in Perth’s arterial network. Specifically, it provides a continuous thoroughfare from the east-west highway exchange at Midland, to the southern industrial corridor and seaports of Fremantle and Kwinana.
The road had been on the drawing boards for more than 40 years, But there would have been little inkling back in the 1960s of what was to confront the planners and engineers when the highway was eventually built. In those preceding 40 years community expectations changed radically. A new suburb has grown on what back in the 60s was virgin bush—and the Grand Spider Orchid had become an endangered species.
The project partnership, known as the Roe7 Alliance, was made up of Clough Limited, Maunsell Aust-ralia Pty Ltd and the client—Main Roads WA—operating as an “integrated team”. According to the alliance, that meant adopting a philosophy that emphasised “cooperation, teamwork and best-for-project results.”
But there was no end of potential problems. The highway project was to drive through bushland and banksias that not only provided a habitat for the orchid but also thriving colonies of animals—like kangaroos and the quenda bandicoots. The road was also going to skirt new suburbs. A comprehensive community consultation process was vital and the alliance believes that the processes developed actually set new standards for managing infrastructure projects.
The consultations certainly changed the final look of the project. It also led the alliance to develop a database of commitments that had been made to local groups to ensure their needs were met.
Initially it was believed that some 54 hectares of vegetation would have to be cleared for the highway to be built but detailed work by landscape architects and engineers trimmed back the area to just 39 hectares.
But it is the treatment of the orchids that demonstrated just how different the project was. Not only was the road itself re-aligned to avoid the most sensitive areas, but the entire works schedule was arranged to take into account the seasonal lifecycle of the spider orchid.
Orchids that had to be moved were and topsoil was collected to help with revegetation along the roadside and in degraded areas. Now an on-going orchid research program paid for by the alliance will keep check on the results.
