Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway | Geotechnics

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The project was a design and build contract with SamsungThe construction of Singapore’s Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) involved 12km of six lane highway to connect the East Coast Parkway with the north of the island at Tampines Expressway. The US$675 million project by the Land Transport Authority of Singapore included approximately 9km of cut-and-cover underground tunnels, eight interchanges and six ventilation buildings.

Mott MacDonald Singapore provided design services to Samsung Corporation for Contract 423, a 3km long fully-underground section that runs beneath an existing canal for 2km and underneath a surface road for 1km. Contract 423 was one of the most challenging components on the whole expressway project due to the presence of very soft marine clay upto 40m thick.

View of highway construction

Impacts on exisitng infrastructure was a key considerationThe underground works of Contract 423 comprised a total cut-and-cover tunnel length of 2.96km, two ventilation buildings, five slip roads, two road bridges and an interchange. The tunnel, which is nominally 36m wide, is located directly below a 27m wide storm water canal for most of its length. The flow carrying capacity of the canal had to be maintained at all times during the construction of the tunnels. To add to the complication of the design and construction, the route runs adjacent to commercial and residential buildings up to 25 storeys high. Some of these buildings are located only 3m from the completed tunnel structure.

Tunnel props

The tunnels were constructed in multi-propped bottom-up excavationsMott MacDonald provided complete design and consultancy services for the 2.9 km section of Contract 423. Our commission entailed tender design, management of the site investigation, detailed permanent and temporary works design, ground movement prediction and building response assessment and the design of the instrumentation and monitoring system for the new works and existing facilities along the full contract route.

Building D by highway

Ventilation Building D - located directly above the completed tunnel structureThe 12km long Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway was officially opened to the public in September 2008 by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong.

Phase 1 running from the East Coast Parkway to the Pan Island Expressway had already been opened in October 2007. Following its completion, the 9km long tunnel section is the longest in South East Asia and the North East of Singapore Island now has a direct link to the Central Business District which will ease over-crowding on the existing routes.