National Highways is to install England’s seventh green bridge as part of its £330m A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross upgrade.
The government-owned company said the new bridge will be formed with two decks and will include a footpath and a bridleway for horse riders.
It will be planted extensively and help maintain and enhance connectivity for habitats separated by the new road, providing a flourishing green border and providing a safe passage across the road for badgers, voles and other small animals, insects and birds.
The new bridge is being constructed over the Marazanvose section of the new A30 dual carriageway in Cornwall.
Neil Winter, National Highways senior project manager for the A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross scheme, said: ‘We are really proud of the environmental work being carried out as part of this project, and the creation of the green bridge is a leading part of that.
‘The company’s first green bridge was built over the A556 in Cheshire; our green bridge will be one of only seven across the country and once completed, will provide a safe crossing for various species of wildlife.’
National Highways said green bridges are now becoming an important part of the sustainability of infrastructure projects, by:
- creating a safe crossing point for wildlife movement;
- joining up habitats and connecting colonies, as they are also used by wildlife as a home in their own right;
- creating a crossing point for people and benefitting pollinators;
- integrating roads and railways into the surrounding landscape.
The south section of the Marazanvose bridge has already been constructed, and work on the weekend of 15-18 September will see the new A30 realigned for traffic to travel underneath, allowing for construction of the north section over the existing road.
To enable the road alignment, the A30 will be closed between Scorrier and Boxheater. Preparation works are being conducted under overnight closures for four nights the previous week (11-15 September).
Work will also see the old Tolgroggan accommodation bridge dismantled, following the installation of the new bridge earlier this year, while work will be completed at Chybucca to reopen the B3284 and allow traffic to travel over the A30.
The Terlet overpass was the first wildlife crossing, constructed near Arnhem in the Netherlands in 1990. Planted with trees, within six years three species of deer were recorded using it, along with wild boar, red foxes, badgers, wood mice, and common shrew and common vole species.
