{"id":29026,"date":"2024-04-19T21:38:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T11:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=29026"},"modified":"2024-04-19T21:38:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T11:38:18","slug":"hs2-begins-foundation-works-for-key-a43-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=29026","title":{"rendered":"HS2 begins foundation works for key A43 bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

HS2<\/a> has begun foundation works for a key bridge that will take a major A road over the new high-speed railway just outside Brackley, after successfully completing the temporarily realignment of both carriageways.<\/p>\n

The A43 \u2013 which links Oxford, Brackley and Northampton \u2013 is a vital route, providing access to Silverstone and connections between the M40 and M1.<\/p>\n

Just two weekend closures were needed during the seven-month realignment project, with HS2 working closely with National Highways to create an \u2018island\u2019 between the two carriageways big enough for the construction of the new bridge deck.<\/p>\n

HS2 engineers have now begun work on the 52m deep piled foundation that will support the weight of the bridge. These will be topped with concrete pile caps and piers supporting the 66-metre-long bridge deck that will carry the road.<\/p>\n

Once the deck has been completed, the road will be moved back over the new bridge and excavation can begin to create space for the railway to pass underneath. This multi-stage approach was designed to keep traffic flowing and reduce disruption.<\/p>\n

HS2\u2019s Senior Project Manager Elizabeth Longinotti said: \u201cIt\u2019s great to see the start of foundation works for the A43 overbridge. Once complete, HS2 will boost connections between Britain\u2019s two largest cities while freeing up space for more local services on the existing network. But it\u2019s also vital that we keep the local routes which people depend on open while we build the railway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve worked closely with National Highway and our contractors to design and deliver a complex multi-stage project which will keep disruption to a minimum while we deliver this key overbridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The almost 80km stretch of railway that passes Brackley \u2013 including the A43 bridge \u2013 is being delivered by HS2\u2019s main works contractor EKFB, a team made up of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall \u2013 working with ASC (a joint venture between Arcadis, Setec and COWI).<\/p>\n

They worked with National Highways and EKFS\u2019s sub-contractor, Kier Highways, to construct the temporary realignment over a seven-month period last year.<\/p>\n

National Highways Network Planner for the East Midlands, Phil Shaw, said: \u201cWe always strive to minimise disruption for people using our roads when any work is being carried out and have liaised closely with our HS2 partners to do so on this complex project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking together we have not only been able to limit the impact on drivers of building the overbridge but have also been able to take advantage of any road closures to carry out some routine maintenance work which means we won\u2019t have to come back and close the road another time.\u201d<\/p>\n

EKFB\u2019s Project Director, Tony Wehby, said: \u201cEKFB\u2019s priority was to minimise disruption for local road users and to keep communities connected as best as possible. The road closures were minimised to short periods and often overnight.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\u201cThe team is thrilled to be at this point in the construction programme and the start of piling works signifies outstanding team collaboration to get it to this stage. This a complex set of works and is a unique construction project in itself, that heavily leans on the expertise of the multiple contractors involved in delivering these works to a high and safe standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The A43 is one of around 500 bridges on the HS2 project \u2013 which is designed to improve connections between London, Birmingham and the North while freeing up space for more local trains on the most congested southern end of the existing West Coast Main Line into London Euston.<\/p>\n

These range from small footbridges and underpasses, to innovative \u2018green bridges\u2019 designed to help wildlife cross the railway, massive motorway bridges and the record-breaking Colne Valley Viaduct.<\/p>\n

The last few months has also seen significant progress at HS2\u2019s other major viaducts, with the first deck slide for the enormous Delta Junction over the A42\/M6 link road outside Birmingham and the start of a half-kilometre deck slide at Wendover Dean.<\/p>\n

Route wide, HS2 is now at peak construction, with 28,000 people employed directly and across the UK-wide supply chain.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HS2 has begun foundation works for a key bridge that will take a major A road over the new high-speed railway just outside Brackley, after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":29027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[7,11],"class_list":["post-29026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","tag-transport","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}