New bridge opens ahead of time and under budget

Mersey Gateway, Widnes

Project Overview

Location	Mersey Gateway, Widnes
Sector	Highways
Products	Propping & Jacking

Mersey Gateway was a multi-million pound investment to deliver a new six-lane toll bridge to ease the existing congested and ageing Silver Jubilee Bridge between Runcorn and Mersey.

A new solution was needed to provide relief from the huge traffic congestion in the area. This formed part of a wider regeneration project and a new and improved link road between North Cheshire and Merseyside.

The challenge

A multi-million-pound transport scheme was agreed to create the Mersey Gateway bridge, a 1km long, three-pylon cable stayed bridge across the Mersey estuary, together with 700m approach viaduct to the north and 540m viaduct to the south.

This high profile and complex project required significant temporary works support in its delivery over the 3.5 year planned build.

Our temporary works expertise was required to deliver a bespoke propping solution for the landside sections, which create the approach to the bridge.

The project also required a structural monitoring solution that can ensure critical insight into movement and load, whilst the build of the permanent concrete piers were taking place.

Mersey Gateway Bridge

A multi-million-pound transport scheme delivered the 1km, three-pylon cable-stayed Mersey Gateway bridge across the Mersey estuary. The project also included a 700m northern approach viaduct and a 540m southern viaduct.

Temporary Works & Propping

Throughout the 3.5-year construction programme, significant temporary works support was required. We delivered a bespoke propping solution for the landside sections forming the bridge approaches.

Structural Monitoring

A comprehensive structural monitoring solution was implemented to provide critical insight into movement and load during construction, ensuring safety and performance at every stage.

Our solution

We worked in partnership with the client and main contractor to understand the challenges at an early stage of the project. This ensured we could advise the best value engineered design to deliver a bespoke propping system.

This system supported the landside sections, which create the approach to the bridge. Its role was critical in supporting the bridge loads onto the permanent concrete piers, by transferring the load of the bridge.

To ensure key insight on movement and load was available 24/7, we set up our structural monitoring. This information fed back to Insite – our monitoring web portal. Bespoke alerts and data was then delivered in real time, ensuring that all stakeholders had the insight they needed.

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