How we overcame challenges to complete new the Gateway

A CHIEF of the consortium behind the Mersey Gateway Bridge’s construction has revealed the challenges which had to be overcome as the crossing was built. Merseylink general manager Hugh O’Connor identified three main issues which had to be addressed over the three-and-ahalf years of construction in Runcorn and Widnes. Mr O’Connor highlighted the weather, working in the Mersey Estuary and cleaning up contamination, particularly in Widnes, as the trio of major challenges encountered. He said: “It can be very frustrating with really nice weather but too much wind, or no wind and lots of rain. “Those combinations tend to make constructing something of this scale (a challenge), with the amount of lifting you need to do in terms of lifting materials into place, and of course building anything which could be affected by wet weather.”

Though Mr O’Connor said contamination on the Widnes side of the river has also been a challenge, a lot of the materials have been treated and incorporated into the project safely which has meant an ‘environmental bonus’.

He said: “We know there’s a legacy of our Victorian ancestors who unfortunately didn’t take the great care we do nowadays with industrial processes and the environment.

“Even though we had a lot of data and information, we were still surprised at the volumes and amount of contamination that we had to deal with.”

Discussing working in the Mersey Estuary, the Merseylink general manager said for the vast majority of time, the river is ‘very benign’ and is wide and shallow.

However, he said the tide can come in at a ‘fair rate of knots’ and had an impact when construction work was in its infancy.

He said: “It impacted on us in the early stages of the project when we formed the coffer dams in the middle of the estuary.”

Looking ahead at work to take place over the next year, Mr O’Connor said roads will be reconfigured in Widnes.

A few existing bridges which are now redundant will also be demolished and final reconfiguation work will be undertaken at Ditton Junction.

Around 200,000 tonnes of crushed rock used to form the haul roads either side of the estuary will also have to be stripped out, as well as coffer dams and the trestle bridge across the Mersey.

Mr O’Connor said: “That will probably take us up to around March and by then that’ll be us completed. The whole project done and dusted, everything will be finished.

“We’ve had something like five million hours worked to get us to this point, by around 1,200 people on any one day.

“A lot of technical expertise has gone into getting the project to this point and we’re very proud of how it’s come together”