Testo’s Roundabout closure for bridge
Beams of a new bridge which will carry tens of thousands of vehicles on the A19 each day are to be lifted into place next month.
Highways England has said it will need to carry out a full closure at Testo’s Roundabout at Boldon to carry out the construction of the new 142-metre flyover.
Once it is opened next summer, traffic will no longer need to negotiate the junction to continue on the A19.
Placing the beams into place will be a milestone moment in the £124.5million roundabout upgrade, making the 1,393-tonne structure visible for the first time, with new sliproads being made to connect it to the A184 Newcastle Road.
The bridge will be made up of 25-paired girders, the largest 33metres in length, with the heaviest pair to weigh-in at about 60tonnes and engineers to use a 1,000-tonne crane as work starts on Friday, September 4.
Highways England project manager Liam Quirk said: “This is an exciting new phase in the project.
"We have finished building the support walls to retain earth and support the beams, and can now get on with lifting the beams into position.
“It’s great that people will be able to see the structure taking shape.
"For this next part of the scheme we will be lifting the cross-sections of the bridge into place, and the beams will be the first horizontal parts of the structure crossing the roundabout. I want to thank people for their patience while we carry out the work.”
To complete the job as safely and quickly as possible, weekend closures will be required.
The A19 will be fully shut, as well as the approaches to the junction along the A184, from 8pm on Friday, September 4, to 6am on Monday, September 7.
This will be repeated from Friday, September 18, to Monday, September 21, and then Friday, September 25, to Sunday, September 27.
Diversions will be in place, with northbound traffic to use the A1231 Sunderland Highway, A195, A194(M) and A194 Leam Lane, and the reverse route will be available for southbound traffic.
There will be alternatives for non-motorway traffic.
For more on the project , which started in March last year, visit https://highways england. co.uk/ projects/ a19-testos-junction-improvement/.