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

  • Motorway's tricky cable installation
    February 6, 2012
    The UK is now benefiting from the installation of sophisticated automated traffic management equipment and information signs on its motorway network. But with heavy traffic volumes on these roads, novel techniques have had to be implemented. One such operation, organised by client The Highways Agency and its consulting engineer A.One+, has recently been underway on the M56 motorway between Junctions 9 and 16 in north-west England under the Triple Package Advanced Works designation. To minimise traffic distu
    Read More
  • Goldhofer to a Faktor of 5
    January 3, 2013
    Goldhofer has launched its new Faktor 5 high girder bridges. The bridges, said by the German firm to allow the transport of up to five times their own weight, come in various models with deadweights ranging from 70 to 130tonnes, making it possible to transport payloads ranging from 350 to 650tonnes. Said by Goldhofer to be comfortable with transporting extremely heavy loads such as transformers, generators, or other heavy industrial components, the new high girder bridges have a vertical stroke in the loadi
    Read More
  • SSL hits back over criticism of its work on the Champlain Bridge
    December 11, 2017
    The contactor building the replacement Champlain Bridge in Canada has hit back over of allegations of poor workmanship in the US$3.3 billion project. The new 3.4km cable-stayed Champlain Bridge over the St Lawrence River will have six lanes vehicle lanes and a separate cycle and pedestrian lane. Design life is 125 years and is being constructed under a public-private partnership and operating contract of 30 years after completion of construction. Work includes construction of a smaller bridge for Île des
    Read More
  • Dynapac’s new future within the Fayat Group
    March 8, 2018
    Dynapac is now part of the Fayat Group and is a new sibling for fellow road machinery firm BOMAG - Mike Woof writes. The purchase of Dynapac from its previous owner, Atlas Copco, by the Fayat Group did generate some comment in the construction machinery sector. Dynapac, a long-standing player in the road machinery segment, is a rival to a firm that is already a key component in the Fayat Group, BOMAG. Both BOMAG and Dynapac make ranges of soil compactors, asphalt compactors, asphalt pavers and milling m
    Read More

Highlighted Content