Christmas Day bridge demolition in Reading
Demolition contractors in Reading will be working to a tight schedule on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, to demolish and replace a notorious railway bridge in the city before normal car and train traffic flows resume after the holiday.
A very precise schedule has been set for the demolition of the first of the Cow Lane bridges, which will be demolished on Christmas morning. A new bridge, which has been constructed at a separate site, will then be slotted into its place on Boxing Day, and swift track work should mean that trains will be able to resume their use of the line on 27 December.
The bridge is being replaced to allow for the widening of Cow Lane underneath it, which has long been one of the city's most notorious bottle-necks. The new bridge will eventually allow for two lanes of traffic to flow underneath it, as well as a cycle lane, and it will also allow double-decker buses to pass under it.
Work on replacing the second bridge will take place after the first is completed, although it is thought that the whole project will not be fully completed until 2015.
The managing director of First Great Western, Mark Hopwood, said, "It is perhaps one of the most significant railway upgrade schemes currently being undertaken anywhere in the country."
