Kier rebuilds storm-damaged road in England’s tourist Cumbria region

The first of 20 steel posts have been positioned for major road repairs to the A591 road in northern England under a £40 million project to repair December storm damage. The A591 is a major local authority road in Cumbria. It links the M6 motorway near Brettargh Holt with important Lake District tourist destinations such as Kendal, Windermere, Ambleside, Grasmere and Keswick.
May 10, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Improvements are being made to the A591 in Cumbria

The first of 20 steel posts have been positioned for major road repairs to the A591 road in northern England under a £40 million project to repair December storm damage.

The A591 is a major local authority road in Cumbria. It links the M6 motorway near Brettargh Holt with important Lake District tourist destinations such as Kendal, Windermere, Ambleside, Grasmere and Keswick.

The restoration project is being led by 8100 Highways England, the wholly government-owned road infrastructure agency, on behalf of Cumbria County Council and the road is schedule to be reopened by the end of May.

Last month, Kier Highways was appointed as main contractor for the re-build work on the A591 at Dunmail Raise, which was washed away. Posts are being fastened to the bedrock at the site and will be used to build a retaining wall in the beck at the side of the collapsed part of the A591.
 
Chris Holehouse, Highways England’s senior project manager for the scheme, said that the retaining wall is already starting to take shape. It wall will provide greater protection to the road from the effects of erosion.

The wall will be built using 4.5m-wide concrete panels which will be supported by the steel posts. More concrete will be poured behind the panels up to a thickness of 3.5m. The wall will also be covered with local stone so that it looks like a dry stone wall and blends in with the local landscape.
 
So far, Kier has removed all the loose rocks and stones from the edge of the beck, created strong foundations for the concrete wall panels and installed some of the steel supporting posts.

Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Norway's bridge meets tough environmental targets
    February 27, 2012
    One of the world's longest bridges is being built in Norway – for traffic volumes of just 2,000 cars/day reports Adrian Greeman. The stunning landscape of the long sea fjords in Norway is one of its glories, attracting thousands of tourists every summer. But the high mountains and deep sea inlets are also one of the great obstacles to transport and development.
    Read More
  • Scottish mountain highway toast to SuDS
    June 24, 2013
    Highway degradation and surface water pollution in an environmentally sensitive area of the Scottish Cairngorms Mountains, famous for its whisky production, are said to have been tackled with an innovative SuDS Solution from Hydro International. Poor drainage, flooding and freezing weather had led to a landslip and extreme surface degradation along a section of the narrow A95 that descends on a 10% gradient with tight bends to the beautiful village of Craigellachie on the River Spey, near Elgin. Situated im
    Read More
  • New EU-Russian highway connection
    February 18, 2013
    Among the forests and lakes of Finland, one of Europe's newest motorway links is being built as a Green highway linking Europe to Russia - Adrian Greeman reports The road eastwards from Finland's capital Helsinki, along the north coast of the Gulf of Finland, has not carried heavy traffic volumes, at least until recent times. Highway seven as it is designated locally, or E18 in European nomenclature, is partly motorway but in some sections still dual carriageway or even just a single lane each way, finishin
    Read More
  • Kier’s strong financial performance
    September 20, 2018
    Kier Group has announced a strong financial performance for its full-year results to 30th June 2018. The results were bolstered in particular by a solid performance in its highways business. The company claims that this has reinforced the firm’s position as the UK’s leading provider of highways management and maintenance services. Over the 12 months, Kier has maintained its position as the lead supplier to Highways England. Securing two three-year extensions to 2021 and 2022 respectively worth over £250 m
    Read More

Highlighted Content