Erith Contractors has bagged a £18m Kent County Council contract for the delivery of the Bean Road underpass scheme.
Forming part of a wider project, the contract will see the construction of a new 75 metre tunnel (due to the length, it is technically an underpass) through the chalk spine under the B255 Bean Road between Whitecliffe and Bluewater Shopping Centre.
The structure will directly connect the shopping centre to the new Whitecliffe development and Ebbsfleet International Railway Station.
This new underpass will replace the two existing haulage tunnels built in the 1990s to facilitate earthworks movements during the construction of Bluewater Shopping Centre. The council plans to make use of the existing tunnels as a basis for the new road and tunnel.
Erith, a family-run, employee-owned company, was one of five that submitted tenders for the contract and is expected to begin construction early this year.
