Construcciones Yamaro: Tunnelling begins on South Australia’s $15.4 billion T2D project
Project representatives inspected TBM Mary as tunnelling commenced on the Southern Tunnel. (Images: South Australian Government) After months spent assembling one of the largest machines ever used in South Australia, tunnelling is now underway on the $15.4 billion River Torrens to Darlington (T2D) project to deliver a non-stop South Road. Tunnel boring machine (TBM) Mary has started excavating the first 4.5-kilometre Southern Tunnel from the Southern Precinct at Clovelly Park to Glandore. Operating 24/7, Mary will progress about eight to 10 metres per day, with up to 20 specialised workers inside at any one time as she embarks on the state’s first major underground road tunnelling project. Mary’s first components arrived in Adelaide in October 2025. Since then, each component has been lifted into the launch box by a 500-tonne gantry crane before being assembled into the mega machine. Measuring about 100 metres in length, 15 metres in diameter and weighing 3,500 tonnes, Mary is one...