11/09/14
Weston Link to be closed for ten days for essential Mersey Gateway works
Motorists driving through Runcorn are being advised a busy road will be partly closed for 10 days while important investigations take place.
The northbound carriageway of Weston Link will be closed, from the Weston Point Expressway slip road, and will affect the entry onto both the A533 northbound Central Expressway, and A533 eastbound Southern Expressway.
These routes will be closed from Saturday 20 September until Tuesday 30 September, while United Utilities engineers undertake some additional road investigation work in this area following a request from National Grid.
The southbound carriageway, heading towards the A557 Weston Point Expressway, will remain open.
Advance Notification Boards are already in place warning drivers about the temporary changes and a clearly marked diversion will be installed ahead of work starting.
The carriageway needs to be closed to ensure the safety of workers. It will take 10 days because they need to dig three metres under the highway surface to investigate and then reinstate the surface.
Bill Slater, United Utilities project coordinator, said: "We will need to make some changes to our water network to allow the Mersey Gateway road network improvements to be completed in this area, so it's important we are fully prepared for when the work needs to take place.
"We're sorry for any disruption to people's journeys, but please bear with us while we carry out this important work."
Hugh O'Connor, General Manager of Merseylink, said: "The safety of workers and road users is our number one priority, and a full closure of this carriageway is essential on this occasion."
The Mersey Gateway Project is a major scheme to build a new six-lane toll bridge over the Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes. It also includes upgrading over 9km of road network around the Ditton roundabout in Widnes, the Bridgewater Interchange in Runcorn and down to junction 12 of the M56 roundabout.
The economic, transport and social benefits the project will bring to the region include:
- 470 permanent full-time equivalent jobs on site during construction
- 4,640 permanent direct and indirect jobs
- £61.9 million a year in Gross Value Added from the new jobs by 2030.
When it opens in 2017, both the new bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge will be tolled, but they will be free* to all residents.
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For further information please contact Chris Sealey or Chris Taylor at DTW on 01287 610 404 / 07786 512 833 / 07949 287 356 or emailchris.sealey@dtw.co.ukorchris@dtw.co.uk.
Editors Notes:
About the project
The Mersey Gateway Project will be one of the largest infrastructure initiatives in the UK over the coming years. Last year Mersey Gateway was identified as one of the UK government's Top 40 priority projects in theNational Infrastructure Planand it has been recognised by KPMG as one of the‘Top 100 infrastructure projects around the globe'.
Its features will include:
- a 1,000m long cable stay bridge consisting of four spans supported from three towers in the estuary;
- a unique design where the 80m high central tower will be shorter than the two outer towers, which will be 110m (north tower) and 125m (south tower);
- a total length (including the bridge and approach viaducts) of 2.13km;
- a deck carrying six lanes of traffic (three in each direction) with a speed limit of 60mph;
- up to 30 supporting piers carrying it across the approach viaducts; and
- a curved approach at each end of the bridge giving varying views of its unique design and maximising its visual impact.
You can find out more about the project atwww.merseygateway.co.uk.
About the Merseylink consortium
The Merseylink Consortium was appointed by Halton Borough Council as the project company earlier this year on a 30-year contract to design, build, finance and operate the project.
Its equity partners are Macquarie Capital Group Limited, Bilfinger Berger Global Investments, and FCC Construcción. The construction joint venture, made up of Kier Infrastructure and Overseas Limited, Samsung C&T Corporation and FCC Construcción S.A.
Sanef S.A. will deliver and operate the tolling solution for the consortium.