Construction project delivery specialist firm Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) has celebrated the opening of the new Penenisula Link freeway in Victoria, marking the first major road project to be delivered by the Availability Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Australia.

SKM provided design services (in a joint venture with Aurecon) as part of the Design and Construct team within the Southern Way Consortium, which included Abigroup and LendLease.

The 27 kilometre Peninsula Link is the Mornington Peninsula’s largest infrastructure project and provides a much needed connection in Melbourne’s freeway network. The project features nine grade separated interchanges connecting 11 existing roads including three freeway-to-freeway connections. The construction task involved 45 separate bridge structures, three million cubic metres of earthworks, 380,000 tonnes of asphalt and the planting of 1.5 million trees and plants. The project also includes a 25 kilometre walking and cycling trail, which is the largest single addition to Melbourne’s shared use path network in recent years.