Highways England set for Christmas bridge slide

Highways England are getting ready to undertake a major feat of engineering by sliding a new 4,000 tonne bridge into place under a railway.

Over 100 contractors will be working around the clock on the project over Christmas to install the bridge at Rosper Road under the railway line, which transports freight trains between the Port of Immingham and Ulceby.

The bridge will be slid into position by four hydraulic jacks weighing more than five tonnes each once 20,000 tonnes of earth have been removed from the existing rail embankment.

Although used previously on the continent, this technique is a first for Highways England and the UK and according to Highways Agency Project Manager Ben Ridgeon, presented a “unique challenge”.

He said: “We went to Paris earlier in the year to observe this technique and see it successfully implemented.

The project utilised Building Information Modelling (BIM), with a 4D model of the bridge slide created.

Mr Ridgeon commented: “BIM makes it so easy to see what is going to be happening. So when we took it to Network Rail to show them our plans and go through what’s happening, it’s very quick and easy to see exactly what we are going to be doing.

“You get a real sense of the amount of planning that has gone into to being able to produce a BIM model of such accuracy. It clearly communicates what’s happening and shows a lot of thought and effort has gone into it. It’s been a really useful tool.”

Starting in July, construction of the bridge has taken around 100,000 working hours to complete. Highways England will take possession of the site from Network Rail at 10pm on Thursday 24 December and be given 76 hours to complete the work.

The bridge slide will provide a significant milestone in the development Highways England’s £88.4M A160/A180 Port of Immingham improvement project.

The project will also see improvements made to junctions along the route, including a new roundabout at the junction with the A180, a new bridge over the A160 on Town Street, and the new road under the railway line by the port.

Roads Minister Andrew Jones said: “This impressive engineering feat is an important step towards improving access to this major UK port and is part of the government’s record £15 billion roads investment strategy.

“Immingham is vital to the regional and national economy, and the government is determined that both thrive as part of our long-term economic plan.

“I look forward to the completed road scheme supporting the port’s continued growth, improving the lives of those in the surrounding communities and boosting connectivity across the UK.”

The post Highways England set for Christmas bridge slide appeared first on UK Construction Online.