2.8 million cubic metres of spoil has being hauled from the project sites. 1.1 million tonnes of spoil has been generated by two massive Tunnel Boring Machines.

Spoil haulage peaked in October 2009 at 700 spoil haulage movements per day across the project and is continuing to decrease as the project progresses. The majority of spoil haulage required for the projects is now complete.

• Dohles Rock Road,
• Bald Hills,
• Trade Coast Central and
• Swanbank

Spoil handling facilities are located at the project’s main tunneling worksites.
All spoil handling facilities have been tailor built according to their location. Each site has a particular spoil handling operation, which is mitigated for noise impacts in order to meet the project’s conditions.

The noise mitigation measures in place at the spoil handling facilities can include enclosed spoil sheds, noise walls, acoustic curtains, acoustic lining, ventilation and strict operating protocols to meet the Coordinator-General’s requirements and to reduce noise impacts for local residents.

The project uses a system called ‘Load Right’ to monitor the amount of spoil being loaded into trucks.

This system weighs and records the load of each bucket tipped into the spoil truck. It allows real time monitoring of the weight being loaded to ensure trucks are not overloaded.

The project monitors its production to avoid queuing in residential areas where possible. This is achieved through:

• GPS system,
• staggered arrival times to site,
• each site has been designed to cater for additional loading queues.

Use of the conveyor is associated with TBM tunnelling operations– this type of tunnelling is only occurring from the Toombul precinct.

The high volume of spoil generated by the TBMs and the speed at which it is removed requires the use of a conveyor system which enables the spoil to be transferred from the TBM conveyor to the project’s overland conveyor system for handling and transportation out to Nudgee Road.