Overview

Join us to explore the Adelaide Street tunnel as it maintains the city's infrastructure whilst addressing urban congestion with use of innovative engineering solutions.

One of Australia’s most challenging tunnel projects, the Adelaide Street tunnel is a critical piece of the Brisbane Metro project that provides additional capacity to Brisbane's public transport system, requiring the construction of a new road only 3.5m below the existing roadway. 

Construction includes a relatively large span soft ground tunnel, with over 20km of canopy tubes and 19km of fiberglass face nails installed in a complex construction sequence to protect against settlement and provide sufficient space for the final bidirectional tunnel. 

The site visit will include a short presentation, followed by a walk through of the tunnel to the most complex element of the project, the binocular cavern.

Learning outcomes

This site visit will provide:

• Insights into the safe construction of soft ground tunnels in very shallow conditions. 
• Explain how settlement is controlled and monitored, how ground stability is maintained at all times, and how safety is maintained.

Event program 

• 9:00-9:15 am AEST: Meet at Adelaide Street Visitors Centre (63 Adelaide Street) and sign on. 
• 9:15-9:45 am AEST: Tunnel presentation and safety briefing
•  9:45-10:30 am AEST: Tunnel walk 
• 10:30-10:45 am AEST: Q&A and tour concludes.

About the speaker

Sean Keen

Area Manager – Tunnel, Acciona

Biography

Sean Keen is the Tunnel Area Manager for the Brisbane Metro Project. Starting his career with in 2011, Sean has worked across numerous infrastructure sectors including mining, transport, water infrastructure and PUP’s. Joining Brisbane Metro in 2021 he first worked in the Inner City South team to deliver the new Cultural Centre Station and moved into the tunnel team in 2023. Sean was involved in helping to develop the pre-support solution for the binocular, moving to a spile bar solution to accommodate the tight turning radius.