Skip to main content

Gilpin Demolition gets tough with A38 overpass in Devon, UK

December 19, 2014
There was no need for a day shift when Devon-based Gilpin Demolition took on a timely challenge - demolish an overpass bridge in 15 hours and reopen the A38 by the following morning.

The 40m long and 8m high single carriageway bridge, made of 1,400 tonnes of steel and concrete, was an overpass near Rattery. By 8PM the A38 below had been closed and the bridge carriageways were barricaded, ready for Gilpin’s first crew to arrive and lay down 400tonnes of stone road protection on the A38.

Hydraulic breakers then moved in for the real work to begin, as the video shows – there was no sleeping on this job.

As the sun rose over the A38 next morning, the last of the crew moved off site, after 960 man-hours of work that included six dumpers completing 80 trips. The job was 100% finished and the material was 100% recycled.

Related Content

  • New version of world’s longest floating bridge
    August 12, 2014
    The creation of a new version of the world’s longest floating bridge in Seattle, in the US state of Washington, is among the world’s most eye-catching current bridge engineering projects. It is an impressive example of the health of the bridge replacement sector, particularly in the US, leaving it well placed for growth. Guy Woodford reports Already the world’s longest floating bridge at over 2,310m long, the Governor Albert D Rosellini-Evergreen Point Floating Bridge in Seattle in the United States is g
  • KIT to study bridge vibration data
    July 7, 2025
    In Germany, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT, will use acceleration sensors to gather vibration data from bridges to pinpoint structural degradation.
  • New M90 surfacing in the UK gain praise
    January 8, 2013
    Early evaluation of surfacing work on the M90 at Rosyth – the first major application of Scotland’s new TS2010 specification – has earned positive praise. Transport Scotland’s determination to obtain pavement that is durable, long lasting and safe (especially in early life) is clearly apparent on the M90 just north of the Forth Road Bridge. Here surfacing has been carried out this spring to TS2010, a tough new specification designed to ensure thin surfacing pavements that work. And the initial prognosis is
  • Mullum Mullum Valley untouched by progress
    July 20, 2012
    Preserving the unspoiled Mullum Mullum Valley was the major consideration when deciding to build a traffic tunnel The answer to one of the major issues facing construction of the A$2.5 billion EastLink route in Australia was simple: construct a tunnel. While it was expensive, those involved realised they had little option but to go underground to protect the environmentally sensitive Mullum Mullum Valley, an untouched area of wood and bushland in Melbourne. EastLink, the 39km toll road project on the easter