Contractors complete difficult demolition with time to spare
Contractors have carried out the complex demolition of Newcastle's Howard Street Bridge with hours to spare on their strict time limit.
The work had to be completed within the 36-hours that the A19 dual carriageway – the southern exit of the Tyne Tunnel – could be shut for. Workers excelled themselves, however, by finishing within 30 hours.
The 20-metre-long, reinforced concrete pinned portal frame bridge was worked on by two teams of 14, from contractors Thompsons of Prudhoe, each working 12-hour shifts. Equipment included Komatsu excavators from 20 to 75 tonnes, with the largest machine being a 15 m high-reach boom.
Thompson's contracts manager Nick Shilling said the most difficult part of the demolition was the West abutment.
"The concrete was directly up against the soil embankment and therefore we could not attack it from both sides, so the concrete was just pushing into the bank-side as opposed to breaking off," he said, adding that in places they were just 500 millimetres from a remaining structure.
"We overcame these, however, by using the earthworks behind the abutment to free up the structure."
The bridge was demolished as part of Newcastle's New Tyne Crossing project, which will see a second, 1.6 kilometre-long vehicle tunnel built under the River Tyne, full refurbishment of the existing vehicle tunnel and development of a new tolls plaza on the new northern approach to the vehicle tunnel.
