Skip to main content

Bachy Soletanche's interchange job

Geotechnical specialists Bachy Soletanche has started work on a new grade separated interchange on the A41 road in West Bromwich in the English Midlands for a Balfour Beatty/Birse joint venture.
February 7, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Bachy Soletanche paves the way for a new underpass to ease traffic flow
Geotechnical specialists 1485 Bachy Soletanche has started work on a new grade separated interchange on the A41 road in West Bromwich in the English Midlands for a 1146 Balfour Beatty/1486 Birse joint venture.

Worth about.£2.5 million (e2.9 million) the project consists of heavy duty CFA and cased CFA secant piling.

The hard/hard and hard/firm secant CFA piles are 600, 750 and 900mm in diameter and up to 18.5m deep, and were designed by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council's engineer, Scott Wilson, and include reinforced primary piles in the new overbridges wing walls.

Bachy Soletanche's biggest rig, a BG40, is being used for the cased CFA secant piles with the remainder being installed by a CM70. Once complete, the retaining walls will form the new underpass beneath the newly-aligned roundabout so as to improve traffic flow on the A41.

Paul Hodgson, business development manager at Bachy Soletanche, said: "This is our biggest job in the Midlands at the moment and it's crucial we stick to schedule so as little disruption occurs as possible."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Alberta’s peaceful partnership
    May 4, 2020
    A bridge project in northern Canada threw up some unexpected challenges, reports David Arminas, from the banks of the Peace River in Alberta
  • Pūhoi-to-Warkworth motorway project
    September 25, 2020
    After a hiatus because of the COVID-19 lockdown, work has restarted on what will be one of New Zealand’s most visually impressive motorways. Andrew Thackwray, senior manager for project delivery for Waka Kotahi, the New Zealand Transport Agency, explains
  • 'Soft' option gets results
    February 8, 2012
    Soft engineering techniques, used to prevent soil erosion and stabilise steep cuts and embankments, have allowed engineers to successfully widen the M1 motorway in the UK. Over the 50km length of the work (25km northbound, 25km southbound) on a busy section of the motorway near the city of Nottingham, a total of 48km of slopes had to be modified, split roughly between cutting and embankment. The UK Highways Agency requirements for the work meant that wholesale widening of the corridor was not possible: the
  • Bolivia’s new highway
    October 10, 2017
    Bolivia’s new highway will provide better access into mountain areas – Mauro Nogarin writes At the beginning of 2015, work began on the construction and paving for the Tupiza - Atocha - Uyuni highway project. The route is located in Bolivia’s Potosí department: it is 189m in length and forms part of the Southwest Basic Road Network (RVF) of Bolivia.