UK: Work starts on Mersey Gateway main bridge deck

Work has started on 2.2km Mersey Gateway’s main bridge deck as the project enters its third year of construction. The new six-lane toll bridge will link the English towns of Runcorn and Widnes and teams will begin to connect the steel support cables to the deck and upper pylons this summer. Trinity, the project’s movable scaffolding system (MSS), has cast the first 250m of the north approach viaduct and a new MSS is on its way to Halton to build the south approach viaduct. The local road network is al
June 2, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Construction in Mersey estuary from Runcorn (photo credit David Hunter)
Work has started on 2.2km 6126 Mersey Gateway’s main bridge deck as the project enters its third year of construction.

The new six-lane toll bridge will link the English towns of Runcorn and Widnes and teams will begin to connect the steel support cables to the deck and upper pylons this summer.

Trinity, the project’s movable scaffolding system (MSS), has cast the first 250m of the north approach viaduct and a new MSS is on its way to Halton to build the south approach viaduct. The local road network is also undergoing significant transformation, including the redesigned M56 motorway junction 12 roundabout, which is due for completion in June.

Its features will include a 1km-long cable stay bridge consisting of four spans supported from three towers in the estuary. An 80m-high central tower will be shorter than the two outer towers, a 110m north tower and a 125m south tower. Up to 30 supporting piers will carrying across the approach viaducts.

To read an earlier 3260 World Highways report on Trinity, %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 2 26084 0 oLinkExternal click here View the report page false /sections/eurofile/features/first-deck-span-completed-for-mersey-gateways-north-approach-viaduct/ false false%>.

Newly released figures for the first two years of work on the Mersey Gateway Project show a direct contribution to the northwest regional economy since work began in May 2014. The figures account for contracts placed by the Merseylink Construction, a joint venture, with 351 suppliers and sub-contractors based within a 50km radius of the site in Halton.

“As a global consortium we have brought expertise from across the world to deliver this project and it has always been important to us to maximise the regional benefits,” said Hugh O’Connor, general manager of Merseylink. “This is why I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to place work valued at €166 million within the northwest economy.”

Merseylink consortium equity partners are 2378 Macquarie Capital Group, BBGI and 1340 FCC Construcci&#243;n. The construction joint venture is made up of Kier Infrastructure and Overseas, 1026 Samsung C&amp;T C and FCC Construcción. 4757 Sanef will deliver and operate the tolling system for the consortium.

Find out more about the project can be found by %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal clicking here Visit www.merseygateway.co.uk website false http://www.merseygateway.co.uk/ false false%>.

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