Toowoomba Second Range Crossing

Key Results

• Quarry production scaled from 4,000 to 7,500 tonnes per day with no supply interruption across nine concurrent work fronts
• 820,000+ tonnes of quarry materials supplied with zero non-conforming product
• Material transferred across a live national highway by a custom 27.5-metre conveyor, designed and built in-house
• Engineering, crushing and quarrying delivered in one contract by an experienced, integrated Wagners team

About the project

The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC) is a 41-kilometre bypass route around Queensland’s largest inland city. Delivered under a 25-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) by the Nexus Infrastructure consortium and jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments, the $1.6 billion project remains one of the largest single road investments in the state’s history. Wagners was appointed as the quarry materials supplier for the central and western sections of the original construction in 2017–2018. Six years later, following a cutting failure on the bypass in late 2022, Nexus engaged Wagners again — this time as the contract crusher and integrated materials-handling partner on the reinstatement works.

The challenge

The Toowoomba Bypass carries thousands of trucks a day. Under the PPP, Nexus is responsible for designing, building, operating and maintaining it.

When the build was awarded in 2015, it was the largest federal road funding commitment to a single Queensland project. The build phase carried risk — geological complexity through the range, federal and state political visibility and a tolling start date dependent on full opening. Meeting the deadline meant finding a materials supplier who could work to TMR specification and scale up volume as the project demanded.

For the reinstatement works in 2023, the priority was getting the highway back to full operation quickly. This required 900,000 tonnes of crushed material to be supplied and moved to the opposite side of the bypass without closing the highway.

In both instances, Nexus needed an innovative partner with expertise to deliver beyond a routine quarry supply engagement.

The solution

Wagners’ vertically integrated operations underpinned both engagements – the quarry division was supported by transport and precast concrete teams in 2017, with engineering solutions expertise also used in 2023 to make the repair works possible.

Original construction, 2017–2018

We supplied foam bitumen gravel, drainage materials and general fill for the central and western sections of construction. When daily supply demand rose from 4,000 to 7,500 tonnes mid-program, our combination of local production, accredited testing and in-house transport fleet meant we could scale volume production without interruptions.

The project included:

• Supply of 820,000+ tonnes across 25 kilometres of corridor, including 450,000 tonnes of highly specified TMR gravel, 220,000 tonnes of rock, drainage and reinforced soil structure materials and 150,000 tonnes of general and select fill
• Supply of 30,000+ tonnes of pre-stressed and precast concrete elements through Wagners’ precast division
• Materials supplied over a 20-month project across nine concurrent work fronts
• Use of Wagners’ rigid dump trucks at 60-tonne payloads via direct corridor access, reducing vehicle movements.

Repair works, 2023–2025

Initially contracted to crush 900,000 tonnes of site-won material for repair works, our team soon realised the crushed material had to be moved across the live bypass to the works area without impacting road availability. Wagners Engineering Solutions designed, fabricated and constructed a 27.5-metre overhead conveyor that transferred the processed material above the corridor at 600 tonnes per hour.

The project included:

• Delivered over a five month period, from initial engagement to operational status
• Crushing on a constrained footprint adjacent to the live highway, working to minus 200mm at minimum 600 tonnes per hour
• Conveyor installed in a 12-hour weekend window, minimising road closures
• Dust suppression integrated into the crushing and material transfer systems, including foaming citrus injection, fogging cannons and dust curtains, to control emissions and protect motorists.