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

  • Dowel bar drilling selection poses challenges
    January 11, 2013
    Pneumatic concrete dowel drills have one purpose – to drill holes. While their intended use is easy to recognize, operation of this equipment isn’t quite so simple. In fact, it’s a bit of a science. That’s not to say they’re difficult to operate. But there are certain best practices and processes to keep in mind for proper drill operation, whether it’s an on-grade, slab-rider or equipment-mounted model. Operators who adopt these guidelines and implement them on every job are rewarded with better performance
    Read More
  • Eradicating work zone danger
    June 26, 2013
    New safety systems for highway work zones are helping to reduce deaths and injuries in the United States, while much work is being done in Europe to improve work zone safety. Guy Woodford reports. With more road building underway than at any one time in Texas history, the US Lone Star state’s Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is introducing its first highway safety system with queue-warning technology and temporary rumble strips to cut work zone collisions. Debuting along a central Texas stretch of the
    Read More
  • Bridge project uses high performing formwork
    February 20, 2012
    Doka designed and supplied a high-performing formwork technology solution for a challenging bridge project south of the German town of Halle. The 8,614m long single-cell box girder superstructure of the Saale-Elster Viaduct, with a typical cross section width of 13.9m, is borne on 220 piers, and has a constructional depth of 4m. It is mainly being erected on launching girders to minimise the impact on flora and fauna.
    Read More
  • Golden route to success
    July 20, 2012
    Built in 1937 and still the ninth longest suspension bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge across San Francisco Bay remains in fine shape despite its age - Andrew Bardin Williams writes The Golden Gate Bridge turned 75 years old on May 27 and continues to play a key role in the transportation, engineering, construction and ITS communities. The structure has played an important historical role, an engineering success that boosted the economy of the region. And it also led the way as the first major pub
    Read More

Highlighted Content