Steel bridges secure A1 upgrade

Seven steel composite bridges are being installed by Cleveland Bridge as part of the A1 upgrade in North Yorkshire.

Working on behalf of main contractor Carillion/Morgan Sindall JV, the bridges form an integral part of the Leeming to Barton A1 scheme where the existing dual carriageway is being upgraded into a three-lane motorway.

The 12-mile stretch of road carries approximately 69,000 vehicles every day and according to Highways England, it is not entirely fit for purpose for today’s traffic volume.

It suffers from poor alignment with numerous side roads and minor lanes entering and exiting, which has contributed to the accident severity ratio being significantly higher than other similar roads.

The seven new steel bridges either span the widened road, or carry the new highway over streets and rivers.

The longest bridge is the 95m-long Kneeton Lane Bridge [pictured] just south of Scotch Corner, which has a steel tonnage of 398t.

The two-span bridge is supported by concrete abutments positioned at either end and a pier located in the central reservation.

To install this bridge Cleveland Bridge delivered six braced pairs of girders, each measuring 2.5m deep, to site and assembled them into units, each measuring 15m wide by 23.75m-long. This assembly work was carried out using a 500t-capacity mobile crane and done on the temporarily closed northbound carriageway of the A1.

Cleveland Bridge has also completed the erection of the Brompton North/South bridge, Agricola bridge, Sowber Hill bridge, Kneeton Hall bridge and Low Street bridge. It has one more structure, known as Fort bridge near Catterick, to erect later this summer.

The upgraded A1 is scheduled to open in June 2017.