First look at Brisbane Airport’s new runway

Costing close to $1.3 billion, Brisbane’s new runway project is the biggest aviation construction job in Australia’s history.

Now, the first part of the mammoth project is nearly complete.

The Dryandra Road Underpass, which is five metres below sea level, will open later this month.

“You’ll actually drive under the taxiways, so you will be able to see the aircraft taxiiing over you” director Paul Coughlan told 9NEWS.

Mr Coughlan said the underpass could become an attraction for families and plane spotters.

“For the kids in the back, they will want dad or mum to time it so they are driving through while an aircraft is over the taxiway.”

The underpass will be able to bear more than 700 tonnes, which is 140 tonnes more than the heaviest passenger plane – a fully loaded A380.

“There’s close enough to 20 thousand cubic metres of very heavily reinforced concrete in this structure” Steve Bourke, from construction company McConnell Dowell, said.

“We’ve future proofed it for those aircraft that aren’t even on the drawing board, but may be in 20 or 30 years time” Mr Coughlan said.

The focus will now turn to the new runway, which will sit two kilometres away from the existing one, allowing arrivals or departures on both runways at the same time.

Mr Coughlan says when the project is completed, Brisbane Airport will have doubled it’s capacity, making it the most efficient in Australia.

“Within 10 years we are expecting flights to be up around the 1000 to 1100 a day,” he said.

The site started being cleared in 2012, with workers dredging more than 11 million cubic meters.

The new runway set to open in 2020.

Source 9news.com.au