National Highways gives army engineers the Royal treatment

National Highways has welcomed the Royal Engineers to the M48 Severn Bridge for a day of training around significant highway infrastructure.

The group of 14 engineers from the Combat Ready Training Centre and 32 Engineer Regiment took part in the day as part of Exercise WESSEX STORM – a four-week training exercise based around Salisbury Plain and the south of England and Wales.

As part of the day, the group were given a presentation on cablestay and suspension bridges to better understand structural behaviour, load carry capacities and how to quickly analyse the bridges.

They also took a tour of the bridge, visiting the anchorage, tower top and inside the bridge deck.

National Highways programme delivery manager Chris Pope said: ‘These mammoth structures are key to keeping the country moving so it was a pleasure to help the Royal Engineers understand better what goes into keeping the bridges safe, and also demonstrating the science behind them.’

Captain Jo Ellett-Swiggs of the Combat Ready Training Centre added: ‘This was a fantastic opportunity for the training audience to apply their current knowledge to national infrastructure and develop specifics which apply to cablestay and suspension bridges.’

The M48 Severn Bridge was built in the 1960s and consists of four separate structures – the Aust Viaduct, the Severn Bridge, the Beachley Viaduct and the Wye Bridge. The M4 Prince of Wales Bridge opened in 1996, increasing capacity and providing a more direct route between England and the cities of Newport and Cardiff.