Managing the repair of transport infrastructure after a natural disaster

Fitzgerald, Danial (2011) Managing the repair of transport infrastructure after a natural disaster. [USQ Project]

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Abstract

Hidayat and Egbu (2011), noted that disasters are not a common occurrence but when they do occur they have the potential to paralyse local government structures and systems. This was particularly true for Brisbane City after the January 2011 Queensland floods. With the Brisbane River at flood levels not seen since the 1974 floods, local Citycat and ferry passenger terminals where severely damaged, therefore causing major disruption to an important element of the public transport infrastructure.

The Brisbane City Council (BCC) started planning the response to the unprecedented damage to the Citycat and ferry infrastructure as soon as it was safe to do so. Approximately 48hours after the maximum height of the flood had passed water based site inspections of the passenger terminals and other associated infrastructure used by the BCC‟s ferry services where carried out. The inspections allowed the BCC too quickly determine what of the infrastructure was salvageable and what required replacement.

The BCC decided, after considering several options, that to avoid any prolonged inconvenience to the Citycat and ferry patrons that a rapid rebuild of the closed passenger terminals would be required. The time line for the salvage of the existing damaged terminals and consequently the rebuild was 90 days in total (33days for salvage and 57 days for re-construction).

This project focuses on the rapid reconstruction of transport infrastructure after an extreme event. The focus will be on a review of the Brisbane City Council (BCC) processes and procedures used when an essential part of their transport Infrastructure suffered major damage rendering it inoperative, due to an extreme event.

The project work undertaken incorporates a literature review of relevant similar research, an overview of the current Project Management methodologies used within the BCC as well as a case study that will follow the rapid reconstruction of six severely damaged passenger terminals after the January 2011 Queensland floods. Included with the case study will be the findings of a lessons learnt workshop discussing feedback provided by essential key staff involved in the reconstruction.

The results of the lessons learnt will be presented and following knowledge gained from the literature review, an alternative working model will be presented based on BCC practices. This working model identified provides when used in conjunction with other documentation, an alternative guide for the rapid reconstruction of minor capital works damaged after an extreme event.


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Item Type: USQ Project
Refereed: No
Item Status: Live Archive
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: Historic - Faculty of Engineering and Surveying - Department of Agricultural, Civil and Environmental Engineering (Up to 30 Jun 2013)
Supervisors: Abesekara, Vasantha
Date Deposited: 17 Sep 2012 02:22
Last Modified: 03 Jul 2013 01:29
Uncontrolled Keywords: transport infrastructure, reconstruction
Fields of Research (2008): 09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090507 Transport Engineering
Fields of Research (2020): 40 ENGINEERING > 4005 Civil engineering > 400512 Transport engineering
URI: https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/21944

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