Work is now underway to do essential works to the three key bridges into Grimsby and Cleethorpes and protect them for the future.
Starting with Gilbey Road bridge, then Cleethorpes Flyover and followed by Alexandra Dock Bridge, there are works on both eastbound and westbound carriageways of each bridge which will be completed in phases.
The first few weeks:
From 26 February, there were overnight closures from 8pm to 6am on Gilbey Road flyover to enable contractors, VSL, to construct the crossovers between the carriageways. Traffic was diverted between Pyewipe and Westgate roundabouts around localised diversion routes during the closure.
The road over the Gilbey Road flyover (between Pyewipe and Westgate roundabouts) was opened up again during this first week through the daytime to normal traffic, but with a lowered speed limit of 30mph, which will be in force throughout the duration of the construction works for safety reasons.
On Sunday 3rd March, there will be an overnight closure to implement the contraflow that will be used as the traffic management for the construction works and will come into force on Monday March 4.
Once the contraflow has been implemented, traffic will be diverted onto the opposite side of the road, allowing one side of the flyover to be worked on at once during the main project. It is advised not to enter the coned work zones for the safety of the construction workers. Free recovery will be provided within the contraflow should any vehicles be unable to proceed with their journey. The recovery vehicle will place broken down vehicles at the nearest available place of relative safety to allow the driver to call their breakdown service.
Additionally, earlier this year, a “Bridgology” survey was completed by contractors, VSL. This was a GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) survey of the structure of the bridges and gave a good indication of the construction layers of the structures. In order to confirm some unexpected results recorded by the survey, trial holes need to be dug to expose a few areas on both Alexandra Dock Bridge and Cleethorpe Road flyover in the early weeks. These will be done during an overnight lane closure in the first few weeks, which will be lifted as soon as practical, and should not affect traffic flow. The holes will be backfilled overnight, and then normal traffic will resume.
The main project:
Once underway, the main project work will involve removal of the existing carriageway surface to get to the lower layers to start to inspect and repair the waterproofing layer of the bridge. Removing the concrete cover of the bridge deck to get to the reinforcement bars that are to be replaced, is unfortunately a noisy operation, and whilst noise reduction measures are being put in place, these will not completely mask the sound of the works.
Extra lighting will also be brought in for the project, which will remain on throughout the night to ensure safe working areas.
Once the works are underway, they will be operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to try to get the project completed in the shortest possible time.
Cllr Stewart Swinburn, Cabinet member for Highways, said: “These are critical elements of our highway system in North East Lincolnshire. If these fail, there would be significant impacts, both economically in terms of the amount of trade that use the route, but also for local people going about their everyday lives.
“If we don’t do the repairs soon, the structures will only get worse, meaning larger scale repairs, and potentially complete closure of the route in the future.
Cllr Swinburn continued: “Given the scale of the programme, it’s inevitable that there will be disruption to the highway network. VSL will be working 24 hours a day on the project to get this done as quickly as possible.”
If anyone has any queries about the works, please contact ProjectManagementTeam@nelincs.gov.uk.
Timeline in brief: project starting on the structures on 26 February
Week 1-2:
- Underneath Gilbey Road Flyover: contractor compound set up on the cyclepath.
- Crossover creation on Gilbey Road Flyover (overnight closures 8pm to 6am – localised diversion)
Week 2-3 Gilbey Road Flyover Traffic in contraflow 24/7. Speed restriction: 30mph
- Alexandra Dock Bridge: overnight lane restriction on a single night to allow for “window survey”. Speed restriction during works.
- Cleethorpe Road Bridge: overnight lane restriction on a single night to allow for “window survey”. Speed restriction during works.
Article and image from NELC.
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