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An artist's impression of the proposed Mitchellstown-Tabilk interchange, showing the road to Avenel on the right of the diagram.

It’s the biggest construction project in our region in physical size and cost. But as contractors restart work after the Christmas-New Year break in a race to put the finishing touches on the Nagambie Bypass so it can open, as scheduled, by the middle of the year — just what is it all really going to look like? CHALPAT SONTI reports.

An artist's impression of the Kirwans Bridge interchange.

Looking south with the Nagambie-Locksley bridge in the centre of the photo.

Looking north at the Mitchellstown-Tabilk interchange.

Looking north at the section of the bypass officially opened before Christmas.

Looking south with Ballantynes Rd in the middle of the photo.

Those who travel each day past the road works that make up any section of the 17km-long Nagambie Bypass can’t help but look at it with a sense of awe.

It’s awe not only at the size and scope of the $222million project, but what it will mean for the town it is bypassing.

That’s not just the peace and quiet that will come from 2000 or so trucks a day finding another way to traverse Goulburn Valley Hwy, but the fact that the character of Nagambie will change forever.

The Kirwans Bridge interchange looking towards the northern duplication.

Rather than automatically being a stop of choice for car travellers who come across its lake, or the host of food outlets, Nagambie will have to attract visitors in its own right.

A few enterprising sorts are already working on ways to do that. Others will follow their lead. But one thing’s (almost) for sure — not many will miss the roar of trucks, day and night.

So what is the state of play with the bypass as it nears completion, and are there any problems?

Anyone travelling between Nagambie and Avenel or Seymour could hazard a guess to the latter, and they would be right.

VicRoads project manager Andrew Williams says the southern part ‘‘is our biggest pressure point’’.

‘‘Last summer was the second wettest on record and we weren’t able to do much work,’’ he said.

‘‘The southern section is our critical path to get earthworks and pavements completed.

‘‘The earthworks are going full tilt. It’s a matter of building up our various pavement levels, but it’s still all weather-dependent.’’

That might not seem a real issue with the recent weather, but for the bypass to be open in time, the groundwork has to be done for a final seal before winter.

Looking south from the Nagambie-Locksley bridge.

With many locals having predicted above-average rainfall this summer, the hope will be that they are wrong.

‘‘Once we’re into the pavements, it’s a lot less weather-dependent,’’ Mr Williams said.

‘‘Because we’ve compacted the ground, the water doesn’t sit, except for the very end when we do the (final) seal and that’s very dependent on the weather.

‘‘Obviously, if you miss the window before winter to get that final seal down, it’ll get pushed into October.

‘‘We’re certainly still targeting mid-2012, but that will depend on how wet the summer and autumn is.

‘‘Unfortunately, we used up all our weather contingencies last year.’’

The weather led to the deadline on the northern section last year being missed by two weeks, which set that part of the project back several months, Mr Williams said.

One of the last parts of the bypass will also be what seems from outside to be the missing link — the rest of the bridge at the Mitchellstown/Tabilk interchange. That has to wait until the abutment is completed.

Work on the other bridges — there are six in total — has gone well, as can be seen from some of the photos on these pages.

The northern section will be the first to open; part of it already has, but it won’t be piece-by-piece thereafter.

‘‘We’ll do the rest in one go,’’ Mr Williams said.

‘‘We can’t really do it any other way.’’

The Nagambie-Locksley bridge should be finished early this year, which will see Ballantynes Rd/Goulburn St truncated.

There are other side roads also being upgraded: Racecourse Rd being the most recent at the intersection with the existing Goulburn Valley Hwy. It is seeing dedicated left- and right-hand turn lanes installed, a lowering of the speed limit, and better linemarking.

The scope of the work is impressive, no matter how you look at it.

And as a relief for taxpayers, it is likely the bypass will come in well under its $222million budget. Savings of about $33million are expected, due to better construction methods and the ability to source materials locally.

The latter is largely by way of the well-named ‘‘borrow pits’’, of which there are four along the route — three managed by VicRoads and one by contractor Abigroup. These are where much of the material comes from, and they can be anywhere up to 300000 cubic metres in size.

The pits will be landscaped after use.

To get an idea of what the most complex bits of the bypass will actually look like, take a look at the artist’s impressions on these pages. They show the Mitchellstown/Tabilk and Kirwans Bridge interchanges; the former is the more complex of the two and features a five-way roundabout, and will be the road Nagambie hopes tourists will take to get to the town. It also has an exit to the freeway for vehicles from Mitchellstown or those who simply got off at the wrong interchange.

There will also be a new link to the road to Avenel, on the far right of the picture.