Skip to main content

Balfour Beatty demolishes Scottish M8 bridge to create junction

Balfour Beatty has demolished 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 demolition of Cowhill Bridge is a major milestone for Ecosse Regeneration in the construction of Junction 4a. Using ten excavators equipped with hydraulic breakers and munching attachments, the four span composite construction bridge was successfully removed during a recent 10-hour night time closure of the M8.
July 11, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
1146 Balfour Beatty has demolished 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 demolition of Cowhill Bridge is a major milestone for Ecosse Regeneration in the construction of Junction 4a. Using ten excavators equipped with hydraulic breakers and munching attachments, the four span composite construction bridge was successfully removed during a recent 10-hour night time closure of the M8. Materials removed during the demolition are being recycled, including the concrete which will be crushed and reused in the construction of the roads.

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, providing around 4,000 new jobs. Funded by 6192 The Royal Bank of Scotland, this will be the first entirely privately funded motorway junction in Scotland.

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

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Simex’s new VSE 40 screening bucket in action
    June 16, 2014
    This video shows Simex’s new VSE 40 screening bucket being put to work by two of the company’s Italian customers. The attachment is said by the firm to be unlike similar models on the market as it allows the user to change the output size of the material without having to perform complicated mechanical procedures. Thanks to an original patented solution, the VSE screening bucket lets the operator modify via hydraulic control the distance between the screening elements, and thus the output size between 0-15m
  • Tunnels - an environmentally attractive option?
    February 21, 2012
    While tunnels are often more expensive than bridges, they can offer environmentally attractive options for transport schemes. Tunnels offer environmentally attractive options for a range of transport infrastructure schemes, but in many cases high construction costs may restrict their use.
  • 3D Repo develop virtual reality safety app for Balfour Beatty
    April 18, 2017
    3D Repo is working with contractors Balfour Beatty and Vinci and the UK roads agency Highways England to deploy a virtual reality simulation program for safety training. 3D Repo, a spin-off from University College London, develops open-source software for building information modelling in the cloud. More than 40 different 3D file formats are decomposed and federated in the company’s big data repository.
  • New structure for A46 bypass
    January 10, 2025
    A new concrete structure is being built for the UK’s A46 bypass.