Foundations completed for River Barrow bridge
CONTROLLED blasting is still under way along certain parts of the New Ross bypass as work continues.
So far contractors, BAM Dragados, have excavated in excess of 1,000,000 tonnes of material to date and are continuing controlled blasting in the Stokestown and Camlin areas. They have also re-commenced blasting recently in the Ryleen/ Lacken area as well as in the Ballymacar area with mainline drainage works commencing in the coming weeks.
For many motorists the biggest sign of the bypass works came with the diversion of the N25 at Ballymacar which has been put in place to allow the construction of the new roundabout on the footprint of the existing N25 while maintaining free flow for road users in both directions during construction. Other diversions realignments that are now in place are at Creakan, Ryleen, Arnestown.
These are to allow the construction of bridge structures on local roads and Stokestown to allow the new road to be constructed. Traffic management works on the N25 at Glenmore have also commenced and are expected to last nine months.
All permanent foundations for the River Barrow Bridge have now been constructed, with the work shifting to the pier stems on the west side of the river. There are number of temporary foundations required to support the falsework for the deck.
Piling works to these temporary foundations on the east side of the river have commenced with work to the foundations following on from these.
Structures for the rest of the project have moved on and the majority of accommodation underpasses and watercourse culverts are either completed or under construction at present. The bridge structures at Creaken and Ryleen have commenced while the one at Arnestown will commence once the local roads are realigned to accommodate working space.
Traffic management will be put in place on the R733 (at Camlin) to facilitate stream diversions in late summer and is expected to last four weeks. During this time a stop go system will be operation at certain areas.
The road closure at the Pink Rock has been extended until June 2018.
During the works mentioned above it will be necessary to employ stop/go at the tie-ins to allow the pavement construction.
At the moment work is ongoing on six of the 12 bridges and on 14 of the 15 planned underpasses along the bypass. Nine of the 15 widecourse culverts are either completed or under construction and contractors are currently working on one of the three retaining walls required.
By October contractors hope to finish the bridge at the R7333 and install precast beams at Camlin. It is also expected that the installation of precast bridge elements at Creakan and Ryleen will be completed. The pier stems, temporary piers and bridge deck of the Barrow Bridge is also expected to be completed.