National Highways’ contractors will add six 10-tonne girders to the side of a bridge carrying the A1 over the next three weeks as part of a £220m widening scheme.
The works at Junction 67 (Coal House) near Gateshead are part of the A1 Birtley to Coal House upgrade, which is widening the dual carriageway, including adding a third lane at this point.
The beams, which will be added to the bridge that carries the road over the Kingsway Roundabout, will be lifted into place by a 200-tonne crane positioned in the middle of the roundabout.
From Wednesday night (9 November) until 25 November, either the northern or southern half of Kingsway Roundabout will be closed overnight, from 8pm to 6am, depending on which side of the structure is being worked on.
National Highways said that once the beams and associated temporary works are installed, the new deck section will be constructed ‘over the coming few months’.
Project manager Helen Burrow said: ‘Earlier this year we used high-pressure water to remove the concrete at the end of the existing bridge deck to expose the reinforcing steel which, would enable the bridge deck to be extended.
‘We are now in a position to be able to begin lifting these girders into place and fix them to the existing bridge, giving us the foundations on which to add a new lane to the bridge.’
As a nationally significant infrastructure project, the scheme required a development consent order (DCO), which was granted by the then transport secretary, Grant Shapps, last year.
The Planning Inspectorate had considered concerns raised by sculptor Antony Gormley, creator of the Angel of the North, that views of the statue would be affected by new gantries built for the scheme.
It found that gantries on the northbound approach to Junction 66, along with a replacement footbridge would be likely to result in a moderate adverse effect on the setting and views of the Angel for people in vehicles on the carriageway.
Costain was appointed as Delivery Integration Partner under the Regional Delivery Partnership framework and in July last year, it was confirmed in the role for what was then said to be a £220m scheme.
However, National Highways’ webpage for the scheme currently states that its cost is ‘TBC’.
