Motorway bridge demolition reaches speedy conclusion
Demolition contractors made fast work of taking down a 3,500 tonne motorway bridge in Leicestershire on the weekend, finishing the job well within the schedule.
Engineers with the Highways Agency had been given just the weekend to take down the 280ft-long Catthorpe viaduct bit by bit, so as to minimise disruption to the crucial M6 and the M1 motorways.
The viaduct, which carried M6 traffic over the M1, was replaced with an adjacent structure that was finished in December 2010. The project manager for the jobs, Highways Agency offices, Ivan Marriott, said that the demolition of the bridge had been a unique and very particular engineering challenge.
"The bridge was taken down piece by piece using 10 large excavators with hydraulic breakers," he explained. "This method was chosen due to the close proximity of the new bridge to the south of the original and to ensure that we did not damage the M1 carriageway running directly below the viaduct."
The work was completed three hours ahead of schedule, however, allowing the M6 to reopen at 9am on Sunday morning and the M1 to resume normal traffic flows at midday. A Highways Agency spokesman thanked drivers for their patience while the work was carried out.
