From the classroom to the construction site, RMIT Engineers Australia Student Society (REASS) made the trip down to Pakenham to see the Victorian Big Build in action.
The next generation of engineers got their first taste of life on major road projects with 20 students visiting the Pakenham Roads Upgrade.
“Visiting the Pakenham Roads Upgrade was an invaluable experience, offering a deeper understanding of the engineering behind road upgrades,“ REASS president Simren Khehra said.
“It was fascinating to learn about the unexpected challenges that can arise on site and how the teams work together to overcome these hurdles.“
Learning from project engineers Alex Holman, Mohammad Kazemi and Georgina McMenamin working on the latest stage of the project – upgrading Racecourse Road and improving access to the Princes Freeway from Pakenham – took the students through the design presentation and what it takes to construct a project of this scale.
From there, the students headed out to the site on Racecourse Road to get an understanding of the scale of the project and to see everything put into action as crews work to upgrade the Bald Hill Road roundabout to a signalised intersection as well as duplicating the roadway.
Works are now in full swing on Stage 3 of the project to upgrade Racecourse Road, which will upgrade the road to two lanes in each direction between Peet Street and Henry Street.
The upgrade will also replace the congested roundabout at the intersection of Racecourse and Bald Hill roads with a new traffic light intersection, improving traffic flow and reliability for Pakenham.
In the coming months, crews will focus on the western leg of the intersection, with works focused on upgrading the centre section of the road between Webster Way and the roundabout.
