Skip to main content

Balfour Beatty demolishes M8 bridge to create junction

A huge array of construction machinery from leading international equipment manufacturers was deployed by Balfour Beatty recently to demolish a farm access bridge over the M8 motorway between junctions 4 and 5 to enable the completion of slip roads for the new Heartlands junction in West Lothian, Scotland. The Cowhill Bridge demolition was a major milestone for Ecosse Regeneration in the construction of Junction 4a. Ten excavators equipped with hydraulic breakers and munching attachments were used to remove
August 8, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A huge array of construction machinery from leading international equipment manufacturers was deployed by 1146 Balfour Beatty recently to demolish a farm access bridge over the M8 motorway between junctions 4 and 5 to enable the completion of slip roads for the new Heartlands junction in West Lothian, Scotland.

The Cowhill Bridge demolition was a major milestone for Ecosse Regeneration in the construction of Junction 4a. Ten excavators equipped with hydraulic breakers and munching attachments were used to remove the four-span composite construction bridge during a 10-hour night time closure of the M8. Materials removed during the demolition are being recycled.

A recently completed 50m long, single span bridge provides a new access to the farm and forms part of the new grade separated junction that will provide the main access route to Heartlands, a US$968.15 million (£650mn) business, retail, residential and leisure destination.

M8 Junction 4a is set to open in September 2013.

Click here to watch the Balfour Beatty demolition team in action.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Sunderland’s New Wear Crossing takes shape
    February 16, 2017
    The New Wear Crossing will be the first bridge to be built over the River Wear in Sunderland, UK, for more than 40 years Raising the bridge’s 100m-tall pylon promised to be a stunning visual sight, but also a tricky operation dictated by extremely variable local weather. World Highways went to press just before the operation, but not before the pylon had arrived by barge on January 7. It had completed a two-day crossing of the often unpredictable North Sea from the Belgian port of Ghent where it was f
  • Balfour Beatty wins major UK road repair contracts
    February 3, 2016
    Balfour Beatty is now working on a seven year, €323.94 million (£245 million) highways maintenance contract in the UK. This package of works is for Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council. There is an option to extend the contract for a further three years. Balfour Beatty Living Places will work in partnership with the three Councils. This collaborative arrangement in the local authority highways market will provide a single source service provider acr
  • Winning formula for formwork
    July 19, 2012
    An unusual application of formwork took place recently in France, while formwork using one particular engineering construction kit was used for the first time in Poland. Guy Woodford reports An 80m long wild game underpass is an innovative feature of the Route Nationale 88 (RN 88) expansion in south-west France. For construction of the arched underpass tunnel, a PERI tunnel formwork carriage using VARIOKIT engineering construction kit was used. Thanks to the equipment’s easy handling, along with pre-assembl
  • UK road contracts planned
    December 13, 2021
    Major road contracts are planned for the UK.