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

  • EC approves Croatia’s Istarski Ipsilon – Istsrian Y - expansion
    June 22, 2018
    The European Commission has approved €165 million for expansion and upgrading of Croatia’s Istrian Y - Istarski Ipsilon - road network. The Istrian Y on the northern Istrian peninsula near Italy consists of a section of the A8 betweenb Matulji-Kanfanar and a section of the A9, from the Slovenian border-Kanfanar-Pula. The name is derived from the geographic layout of the highway network that takes the shape of the letter ‘Y’. The three stretches meet at the Kanfanar Interchange in south central Istria.
    Read More
  • CEMEX in the Sinai
    October 4, 2018
    CEMEX is supplying over 500,000m3 of concrete and approximately 760,000tonnes of cement for major infrastructure projects related to the main canal in Egypt, the Suez Canal. These projects involve the construction of tunnels to connect Egypt’s mainland to the Sinai Peninsula and the development of a commercial seaport. Through a joint venture with Orascom Construction and The Arab Contractors, CEMEX is supplying 350,000m3 of concrete and 160,000tonnes of cement for the construction of two tunnels that ext
    Read More
  • Birmingham upgrades traffic management systems
    February 21, 2012
    UK public services provider Amey, as part of the £2.7 billion (€3.1 billion) highways partnership with Birmingham City Council (central England) has placed its first major order for traffic signalling equipment with Siemens.
    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

Highlighted Content