Standing the Last Pole on the Cunninghams Gap Upgrade

There's something satisfying about the last piece of a big job. In June, the Walkabout Services team stood the final pole on the Cunninghams Gap Upgrade Project, one of the last tasks in a long stretch of work on the range.

The work: poles and solar lighting

Our job was to stand the lighting poles and install the solar head frame units that power the lights across this stretch of road. Each unit had to be lifted up and fixed in place at the top of the pole.

That's precise crane work. The crane truck sets up on a narrow strip of road, the boom reaches out over the barrier and the load goes exactly where it needs to, with the hillside falling away on one side and the road on the other.

A long job on the range

Cunninghams Gap is a steep, winding mountain pass, with rock walls and thick bush on every side. It's a beautiful spot to work, but it asks a lot of the people and the gear.

We've been part of this upgrade for a couple of years now and it's been a project to be proud of. Standing that last pole felt like a real milestone as the job slowly comes to an end.

Meet the site supervisor

We weren't working alone up there. A local dingo has been keeping an eye on the project for the last couple of years, turning up to check on our progress.

By the end, we're fairly sure he'd earned a promotion. He's now unofficially in a supervisory role.

Planning a project with lifts like these?

From roadside lighting to infrastructure installs in tight spots, the Walkabout Services crane truck team can help with the transport and the lift.