The development and construction of the Northbridge Tunnel and the Graham Farmer Freeway has been of great interest to the people of Perth. Over the four-year life of the project, Main Roads received a number of requests from organisations and charities looking to link a fund raising event with the opening of the tunnel.

After careful consideration. Main Roads decided instead to hold a series of Open Days to keep the general public informed," said Len Horne, Main Roads Community Relations Manager.

Due to construction being a six-day a week activity, these open days were either held on Sundays, public holidays or the rostered day off for the contractors," he said.

The reason was two-fold – first there are risks associated with having people on site during construction. Second, the site was the contractor’s site, and the Government being a third party did not want to cause interruptions to their work.

Several Open Days were conducted with manageable groups of 25 being taken on a tour of the tunnel. The well-trained guides were able to provide visitors with information within a safe and secure environment.

With the knowledge that the tunnel/freeway would be completed by April 2000, Main Roads started to plan for the opening at the end of last year," said Mr. Horne. "It’s our biggest event to date.

The opening on Easter Saturday was held in three stages. The idea was to provide a focus on the development of the Freeway as well as the tunnel, so three events were planned along the distance of the freeway between Orrong Road – the start of the freeway – and the eastern end of the tunnel.

On Easter Sunday, the public were able to cycle through the tunnel, which also had various risk elements that needed to be addressed. One of the charity groups that had contacted Main Roads about a fund raising event was Rotary and it was decided to involve them in the opening. As Rotary had been associated with a similar tunnel opening in Sydney, it was decided to fly the key organiser over to discuss the elements that would be required in Perth.

Due to the large crowd that was expected, it was agreed that clubs from across three of the Rotary Districts would need to be involved, rather than just one Rotary club.

Following some extensive planning involving Main Roads and Rotary, we then engaged an independent risk management consultant to review our plans," said Mr. Horne.

"The consultant’s assessment of the risks was similar to ours.

One of the concerns was crowd management at each of the three events. With the first two events being more structured official events, the crowd numbers could be better anticipated. However with the third event involving the general public walking through the tunnel, it was impossible to estimate the numbers.

As a way of measuring the numbers that could be expected, Main Roads conducted a telephone poll of a number of households in the Perth metropolitan area," said Mr. Horne. "The survey revealed that the interest level in walking through the tunnel was high and that as many as 120,000 people could be expected. Main Roads’ aim was to attract around 30,000 people.

Crowd management was complicated even further, as some people were attending one or even all three events. The logistics of moving people and keeping the pedestrian traffic flow regulated was a real challenge. During the day, the official opening by the Premier was conducted at the eastern entrance to the tunnel, so measures had to be put in place to cope with traffic flow at this time.

One of the steps taken to minimise the risks in moving people was to transport them between the various points and so the concept of a cavalcade was developed. This included limousines, motor vehicles, vintage cars, bikes and penny farthing cycles.

Another measure taken to reduce the risks was to have the people moving in only one direction. This prevented people from moving back through oncoming traffic, which could have caused confusion. Those who wanted to do the return walk used the other side of the tunnel. There was also a transfer bus on the surface to return people," he said. For safety reasons, only the emergency lane was open for vehicle access such as the Marshalls’ vehicles, ambulances etc.

Mr. Horne said that to reduce other risks on the day, Rotary organised for 300 Rotarian Marshals to be positioned along the route to help advise and guide the crowd.

One risk identified by the organiser was that some people might experience ‘tunnel phobia’ during the walk. The Marshalls had been trained to identify individuals who seemed distressed and knew to direct them through interconnecting exit doors in the tunnel.

As part of the risk identification process we worked out how much personal space each person would require (approximately three square metres) and how long it would take individuals to walk through the new facility. The flow of traffic was regulated accordingly so this was achieved," he said.

Risks for minor medical alerts such as a person encountering a dizzy spell or dehydration were addressed, as was the possibility of a major medical crisis such as a person experiencing a severe heart attack or there being a major calamity." The organisers also identified the potential risk of a fire in the tunnel. Although only a low risk factor, checks were made on the newly installed equipment to ensure it was working effectively.

There was close cooperation with the Police Department in helping with the direction of people on the day and with supervision of behaviour. To help reduce the risk of people going in the wrong areas or direction, considerable signage was placed along the route to prevent any confusion.

Other risks identified included the likelihood of a bomb scare, explosion or chemical attack, and although minimal, were addressed as part of the risk management strategy.

Other needs that had to be considered were services and provision for people with disabilities and wheelchairs. Facilities such as toilets for the disabled were placed at either end of the tunnel.

Entertainment and food stalls managed by Rotary were located at the end of the walk.

The events involved three local authorities – the City of Belmont, Town of Vincent and City of Perth. Extensive liaison was conducted with each in coordinating this major event.

The element of risk was even considered when selecting the MC for the day," said Mr. Horne.

We needed to assess his ability to cope with altered scenarios, should an emergency occur.

As part of risk management, car parking was limited. TransPerth assisted with the transfer of passengers and it reported that over 35,000 people were carried on the shuttle bus provided from Leederville Station. The public also chose to make use of the train service to McIver Station and walked from there. Mr. Horne estimated that 50,000 people attended on the Saturday.

"The most vital risk management tool is effective communication," emphasised Mr. Horne. Clear, concise messages were delivered from the organiser to the general public through the media, between the various organisations involved in the planning requirements and information disseminated via the Rotary Districts.

"Good communication allowed everyone to be fully informed of what was going to happen on the day and how they should approach it."

"To ensure that the public response to the project was positive, given that some people would miss the opportunity of the walk due to being away over Easter, a Dog Walk and bus tours were held several weeks prior," he said.

Security measures needed to be implemented to prevent the risk of damage to buildings, vehicles and equipment. Due to the Easter break, the marquees had to be erected on the Thursday and security guards supervised the area for the next two nights.

Despite the preventive measures, a young, out-of-control driver in a stolen car managed to drive through a barrier and straight through a marquee, completely destroying it. This required another marquee to be erected very early on Saturday morning.

The tunnel and freeway have certainly created keen public interest. The following day when the bicycle activity was held, Main Roads expected about 3-4,000 cyclists. However, around 10,000 cyclists made their way through the tunnel.

According to Mr Horne,"Being the first tunnel that has been built in Western Australia, the public had to be educated about the absolute safety and functionality associated with travel."