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.

Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Widening for key section of UK’s A11 route complete
    December 12, 2014
    Contractor Balfour Beatty has completed the €132.4 million (£105 million) upgrade of the last remaining single carriageway section of the A11. This section of the route runs between Barton Mills in Suffolk and Thetford in Norfolk. The work involved dualling nearly 15km of carriageway on behalf of the Highways Agency.
    Read More
  • £317 million UK highway project delayed
    February 12, 2025
    A £317 million UK highway project is delayed.
    Read More
  • Successful Nebraska bridge explosive demolition
    February 24, 2014
    The final phase of the Nebraska Bridge demolition has now been carried out successfully. The work went according to plan, despite low temperature conditions and a blizzard on the night before the planned blast. The poor weather did not prevent this last phase of the bridge demolition, located at Rulo in Nebraska. In spite of temperatures well below freezing, the charges placed in the final section of the bridge were detonated and the structure fell into the Missouri River.
    Read More
  • Balfour Beatty join new UK Midlands Highways Alliance framework
    June 12, 2014
    Balfour Beatty has been appointed by the Midlands Highways Alliance, a collection of twenty UK local authorities, to the Midlands Highways Alliance Medium Schemes Framework Two (MSF2) which will deliver up to €322.87 million (£261 million) of transport infrastructure over the next three years. Under the framework, the company will deliver the construction of new transport infrastructure schemes such as bridges, roads and public transport schemes such as park and rides, bus stops and bus lanes. Balfour Bea
    Read More

Highlighted Content