Sykes Pumps helps with A45 scheme

A complex road improvement scheme on the A45 in Coventry has seen pumps provided by Sykes Pumps used to manage the water table during major excavations.

The £106 million Tollbar Island scheme is being carried out by Galliford Try.

The new traffic interchange at the Tollbar Island section of the A45 will be delivered as a three year-programme designed to manage traffic congestion at a section of road used by 85,000 motorists each day.

The project includes a series of road widening and traffic management improvements along with construction of an underpass linking the Birmingham bound A45 with the Leicester bound A46. The underpass will reduce the level of traffic using the roundabout serving the London-bound A45 by up to 45%, dramatically reducing congestion.

Sykes Pumps has been involved with the project since it started on site in 2013, enabling the construction team to divert water from site during road widening operations in an overpumping project that saw the company provide up to four pumps to site at any one time during a two-year period.

The current phase involves excavations to create the underpass and Sykes Pumps has supplied two pumps for the work.

They are being used to manage the water table during the excavations and Sykes Pumps also has a watching brief to respond quickly should additional pumps be required during periods of heavy rain.

Alan Jones from GallifordTry said: “The Tollbar Island scheme is amongst the most complex and significant road improvement schemes currently taking place in the UK and we need to ensure that we deliver the project on time to address increasingly severe congestion in the area.

“Sykes Pumps has been extremely flexible in working with us on the scheme, adjusting the pumps supplied to meet the changing needs of the project as it progresses.”

The underpass excavations are expected to take several more months, with full completion of the Tollbar Island scheme scheduled for Autumn 2016.