Repairs for two bridges on the M27, estimated to cost £5m, will mean a series of weekend road closures between junction 12 and the Hilsea Interchange over the next two months.
The series of weekend closures have been carefully planned to avoid the Portsmouth Football Club home and away games as 'these would be busier weekends,’ National Highways said.
National Highways stated that it has ‘programmed two full weekend closures for the westbound bridge and two full weekend closures for the eastbound’, but added that there are two additional weekends planned as a contingency for any bad weather that may delay works.
The westbound M27 will be closed at the Portsbridge roundabout:
- 9pm Friday 5 to 6am Monday 8 September
- 9pm Friday 26 to 6am Monday 29 September
The eastbound M27 will be closed at junction 12:
- 9pm Friday 10 to 6am Monday 13 October
- 9pm Friday 17 to 6am Monday 20 October
The bridges, known locally as the IBM bridges, were constructed in 1975 and require repairs due to the concrete underneath the bridges deteriorating.
This deterioration was caused by water ingress from drainage and age-expired waterproofing and joints on the top of the bridge, according to the national road authority.
Work initially commenced on the bridges in June of this year and National Highways has already carried out concrete repairs to the underside of the bridges and has also installed protection to slow the corrosion of the steel.
Now that the first phase of the repairs is nearing completion, National Highways plans to focus on repairs to the top of the bridges.
All repairs are currently expected to be completed by the end of November 2025.
Emma Weston, project manager at National Highways, said: ‘The next phase of works will involve removing the surfacing and age-expired waterproofing on the top of the bridges and upgrading the existing surface drainage. We’ve got an additional challenge to remove the asbestos within the waterproofing. It will be safely removed and disposed of by specialist contractors before the new waterproofing layer is applied and new surfacing laid.’
Image credit: Pierre de la Mare / Shutterstock.com
