Colas has released a video of a major milestone on the A46 Stoneleigh junction improvement project for Warwickshire County Council, showing the successful move of the new 740-tonne bridge deck into position.
The new bridge deck has been constructed off-line in order to reduce disruption and was installed into its permanent position using a deck lift and transportation method over the weekend of 21/22 January.
Once the construction was complete, the deck was jacked to full height in the off-line area prior to its move, by the experienced team from Sarens.
It was lifted using a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT), carried into position across the A46 and lowered onto the new abutment walls.
Colas project manager Andy Bond said: 'With the combined weight of the bridge deck and the lifting and moving equipment weighing 1100 tonnes, manoeuvring it into place required intensive planning with all teams working collaboratively to ensure everything ran smoothly on the day.'
The move was completed in approximately one hour on Saturday morning, then the teams successfully completed the longer, delicate task of slowly lowering the bridge deck into its exact placement on the new walls.
The A46 was closed to traffic from Friday evening to allow the team time to safely remove the central (vehicle restraint system) VRS, and temporary VRS ready for the SPMT to move the bridge deck into place above the abutment walls.
The team then carried out a full inspection of the road and re-installed the central VRS and temporary VRS ready for the road to re-open over 26 hours earlier than planned.
Cllr Wallace Redford, Warwickshire County Council portfolio holder for transport and highways, said: 'This was an incredibly impressive piece of engineering and construction by our contractors at Colas and Sarens and marks a really exciting milestone for the Stoneleigh Junction Improvements, which we expect to be complete by the summer. The benefits of this scheme to local residents, businesses and the wider network are significant and it’s great news that we are now a step closer to them being realised.'
