WORK is continuing on a major Worcestershire bridge project.

Carrington Bridge, over the A4440, has had its steelwork fully installed by contractors COWI and Alun Griffiths Contractors. The project is the first UK bridge to use high strength “S460W” weathering steel.

Andy Sloan, managing director/senior vice president of COWI in the UK, said: “We are delighted to have completed the installation of the steelwork for the bridge in less than two weeks. The site has been challenging with regular flooding being an issue and steep slopes which have given us reduced access for construction works, but our team have tackled these problems head on, and we are thrilled with the outcome.”

Work to join the bridge to the road that has already been constructed, which includes the widened Powick viaduct, will begin early next year.

The A4440 Southern Link Road is used by over 30,000 people each weekday and is one of the county’s busiest stretches of road. The work is part of the fourth and final phase of the scheme to fully dual the A4440 Southern Link Road from Junction 7 of the M5 to the Powick roundabout.

The project, due to be completed in Spring 2022, is designed to ease traffic in the area, with the steelwork being installed by bridge-builders Cleveland Bridge.

Using this stronger grade of steel enabled the COWI design team to reduce the total material quantity by 15 per cent, resulting in a more sustainable structure.

The reduced quantity of steel reduces associated carbon emissions from manufacturing and transport.

The use of corrosion-resistant weathering steel means the steelwork does not require painting, a further environmental benefit. The use of this type of steel also made it easier to transport the girders for the bridge, which were delivered to the site in 48-metre segments before being lifted onto their supports by a 1,200 tonne mobile crane, one of the largest in the UK. As the steel girders were so huge, a police escort accompanied the haulage trucks from junction 7 of the M5 to the site.

COWI won the work on the project with Alun Griffiths Contractors Ltd, as part of an ECI scheme, to design the three-span composite road bridge, as well as the geotechnical design of the road embankment, retaining walls and slope stabilisation measures.