David Leahy

Executive summary

David is a Partner in the Project and Infrastructure Advisory team in Brisbane.

David is a nationally recognised strategic transport modelling specialist with over 20 years government and consulting experience. He possesses a range of adjacent skillsets across the infrastructure sector including economic appraisal, business case development, transport and land use planning, policy development and data analytics.

He has led diverse teams in the successful delivery of a number of the nation’s most significant and complex infrastructure projects and programs including Gold Coast Light Rail, Cross River Rail, WestConnex and Sydney Metro.

Expertise

• Transport modelling
• Transport planning
• Business case development
• Economic appraisal
• Land use planning
• Policy development
• Data analytics.

Experience

• Lead modeller for the Gold Coast Light Rail project for over 15 years, including leading the model build, calibration and validation of a bespoke mode choice model, specification and commissioning of stated preference surveys and supported the patronage and revenue forecasts for Stages 1, 2 and 3 of the project
• Led the transport planning, light rail operations, demand modelling and traffic modelling for the Parramatta Light Rail, as well as the final business case for Stages 1 and 2 of the project
• Lead the transport modelling discipline to support the business case for the Sunshine Coast Public Transport Project
• Transport modelling lead for the preliminary evaluation of the Direct Sunshine Coast (DSC) rail line
• Engagement Partner for the modelling of different fare structures and funding scenarios for the Sydney to Newcastle and Sydney to Bomaderry corridors on the Fast Rail project
• Led the team who undertook a peer review and independent set of patronage and revenue forecasts for the proposed 450km Mumbai– Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project
• Led the demand and land use modelling teams in the development of the strategic assessment for the proposed 90 km Suburban Rail Loop
• Led the demand modelling team in the re-estimation of the Strategic Transport Evaluation Model and its application to support the final business cases for the Yanchep Rail Extension and Thornlie Cockburn Link
• Developed investment grade demand forecasts for the Sydney Airport Link line in Sydney
• Led the team which undertook a preferred transport mode study for the Hobart Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor
• Led the Traffic Adviser team for the Scoping Study and Transaction of the residual stake in WestConnex
• Led a team in the development of macroeconomic forecasts and traffic review services for the vendor due diligence in relation to a partial divestment of a toll road in Victoria.

Qualifications and affiliations

• Graduate Certificate, Mathematical Science (Computational and Financial)
• Bachelor of Engineering (Civil).