Skip to main content

VIDEO: Balfour starts M3 bridge upgrade in UK following demolition

Balfour Beatty has started bridge work over the M3 motorway as part of a €205 million upgrade on highway connecting London to south coast ports. Balfour recently demolished the Woodlands Lane Bridge between junctions 2 and 3 near Windlesham on the M3 which runs from the capital to Southampton and Portsmouth. A new bridge is being constructed Balfour Beatty is working for the agency Highways England to reduce congestion this section of the M3 that handles more than 130,000 vehicle journeys every day.
November 23, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
1146 Balfour Beatty has started bridge work over the M3 motorway as part of a €205 million upgrade on highway connecting London to south coast ports.

Balfour recently demolished the Woodlands Lane Bridge between junctions 2 and 3 near Windlesham on the M3 which runs from the capital to Southampton and Portsmouth. A new bridge is being constructed

Balfour Beatty is working for the agency 8100 Highways England to reduce congestion this section of the M3 that handles more than 130,000 vehicle journeys every day. Once is it converted into a smart motorway and open in summer 2017, there will be an extra lane in both directions, increasing capacity by a third. Technology will be introduced to vary speed limits.

More than 250 engineers worked on the controlled demolition of Woodlands Lane Bridge which used a variety of methods to break up the structure and protect the carriageway beneath. This included installation of plywood protection, 150mm of timber mats and a further 600mm of crushed concrete.

Unfolding geotextile curtains contained dust and rubble as the bridge collapsed onto the protected area of the road below.

“The work went according to plan in spite of the poor weather conditions, safely, on time and the carriageway was reopened ahead of schedule,” said Stephen Tarr, managing director for major projects with Balfour Beatty.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Upgrade for Scottish road
    February 17, 2012
    Work is progressing on a £320 million (e385 million) project to upgrade a busy 18km stretch of the main A80 Glasgow-Stirling road in Scotland to motorway standard. The project, between the villages of Stepps and Haggs, is part of a massive infrastructure investment in Scotland's transport network, and construction work includes almost 8km of new dual-lane motorway and hard shoulders between
  • A new bridge now crosses a motorway in the UK
    November 5, 2012
    A new 240tonne bridge has now been installed over the M54 as part of a major overnight engineering operation. The single-span bridge, which stretches 45m over the motorway, is part of wider plans to develop a site in South Staffordshire. To allow engineers to winch the giant structure in safely, both carriageways between junctions 2 and 3 were closed on Saturday, November 3rd. Bridge sections were delivered to a near compound early in the summer where it was pieced together. Just after 11.30pm on Saturday,
  • Cleveland Bridge wins UK flyover contract
    March 26, 2020
    Cleveland Bridge has won a major contract for a flyover in the UK.
  • More tenders for the Lower Thames Crossing
    April 2, 2021
    The winners will build 23km of road connecting to what will be the UK’s longest road tunnel.