A 1,500 TONNE railway bridge extension over Worcester’s Southern Link Road has been successfully manoeuvred into place.
The bridge on the A4440 was moved into position on Sunday by a team of 180 engineers who worked around the clock in three eight hour shifts and its addition marks another step closer to Worcestershire County Council reaching its aim of fully dualling the road from the M5 to Powick roundabout, Worcester.
Following the removal of the track and after hours of excavation and soil removal, the bridge extension was located into place. The specialist machinery carefully moved the bridge in situ to within millimetres of the current bridge.
Once the bridge was sited, the job of making it stable began.
The next job is to replace and test 112 metres of new railway line ahead of the line being re-opened again later this week, with the road also to follow.
Coun Dr Ken Pollock, cabinet member for Economy and Infrastructure, said: “This bridge extension will mark another major milestone in the wider works being carried out on this key route through the county.
“The engineers on the site did a fantastic job over the weekend to progress this complex project manoeuvring the new structure into position adjacent to the existing bridge.”
Crookbarrow Way was due to reopen to drivers at 6am on Friday but reopened last night as project work finished ahead of schedule.
“It’s a testimony to the team who have worked around the clock in the run up to the bridge being moved into place and afterwards that the road is reopening 36 hours earlier than planned,” Coun Pollock added.
A 20 second time-lapse video of the bridge extension works has been produced which can be viewed at https://youtu.be/P8kJItVgZlY
