The UK’s A14 route is seeing a major upgrade

Work is progressing well on the project to upgrade the busy A14 route in the UK. A major milestone has been achieved with and important phase of the bridge installation having taken place. A 39m viaduct beam has been placed successfully for the bridge, which spans the River Ouse in Cambridgeshire. A key role in this work has been taken by the firm Cleveland Bridge UK. As part of Highways England’s £1.5 billion A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, Cleveland Bridge was contracted by the A14 Integr
June 14, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The A14 Viaduct being installed over the River Great Ouse
Work is progressing well on the project to upgrade the busy A14 route in the UK. A major milestone has been achieved with and important phase of the bridge installation having taken place. A 39m viaduct beam has been placed successfully for the bridge, which spans the River Ouse in Cambridgeshire.


A key role in this work has been taken by the firm Cleveland Bridge UK. As part of 8100 Highways England’s £1.5 billion A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, Cleveland Bridge was contracted by the A14 Integrated Delivery Team (IDT) to design, fabricate and install a 750m viaduct bridge spanning the river and a large area of bordering flood plain on each bank.

Containing 6,000tonnes of steel and comprising 76 separate main girders and 800 cross girders, the structure was fabricated at Cleveland Bridge’s production facility in Darlington, County Durham before component parts were transported to site by road over a period of months. The majority of the main girders are 40m long, 2m deep and weigh 50tonnes.

The section of the bridge crossing the river has the longest span, so a complex series of girders has been installed to carry the weight of the greater load.

To enable the installation of the structure, including the most recent viaduct sections, a temporary platform was constructed under the length of the new bridge to provide a solid base for cranes and lorries.

However, to reduce time and site congestion, Cleveland Bridge utilised a 600tonne capacity crawler crane for the installation, which could lift all components for each section of the bridge from a single position at the side of the bridge. This meant fewer crane movements and no need to move the crane across the bridge footprint.

Chris Droogan, managing director of Cleveland Bridge UK, said: “The River Great Ouse viaduct is a showpiece element of the A14 project and is worthy of its place as one of Cleveland Bridge’s most significant structures in our history.”

“The viaduct will have a major impact on improving this part of the UK road network and we are very proud to have played a part in its development.”

Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Superlative formwork’s global appeal
    April 25, 2013
    The latest formwork solutions are enabling some tough bridge-building projects to be delivered in South America and Europe, while the world’s largest construction equipment show is seeing the merits of other cutting-edge formwork. Guy Woodford reports. Taking a road and rail link across one of South America’s largest rivers, together with its swamps and floodplain, calls for a new crossing of superlative dimensions. Two 135.5m pylons for the third bridge across the Orinoco River in Venezuela are taking shap
    Read More
  • Highways England awards €2.1 billion of upgrades for UK motorways
    August 7, 2015
    Highways England has today appointed six joint-venture companies to design and build 10 “smart motorways” as part of a €2.1 billion investment. Construction contractors appointed are the Balfour Beatty and VINCI joint venture, a Costain and Galliford Try joint venture, as well as a Carillion and Kier joint venture. Designers are a CHM2 and Hyder joint venture, an Amey and Arup joint venture, as well as a Jacobs and Atkins joint venture. The award is the second major procurement to be given under th
    Read More
  • Major project to construct landmark Bay Bridge in California
    October 31, 2012
    Iconic California crossing will offer seismic safety – Adrian Greeman reports A unique single-span single-tower suspension bridge is the iconic centrepiece of a dramatic renewal of the eastern Bay Bridge in California, crossing from San Francisco to Oakland. Tourists in San Francisco sometimes mix up their bridges, identifying as the famous Golden Gate, the double suspension bridge which runs across the wide San Francisco Bay. These serially linked bridges in fact form the Bay Bridge east to Oakland whereas
    Read More
  • India’s capital highway project will improve transport connections
    October 10, 2017
    Huge numbers of construction machines as well as plant and equipment are working overtime, backed by mammoth manpower, to meet the targeted completion deadline of March 2018 for India’s Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE). The 135km arterial route is being built with six lanes and surrounds India’s National Capital, Delhi, its National Capital Region (NCR) and the industrially developed North Indian states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
    Read More

Highlighted Content