50-year-old M6 bridge demolished in 2 days
AFTER carrying traffic over the M6 for some 50 years, an old bridge which spanned the motorway at junction 10 disappeared in less than two days.
The Highways Agency project was completed more than four hours ahead of schedule over the weekend.
The bridge is being replaced by a more modern and wider, four-lane structure to tackle congestion at the
busy junction.
National Highways project manager Annie Hyett said: “Demolishing a bridge of this size is a complex operation but everything went exactly to plan and we were delighted that we were able to get the motorway open several hours earlier than planned.
“A big thank you to everyone who was able to avoid the area where
possible as it helped us reduce the queues of traffic and delays to journeys.
“We appreciate that closing the motorway does cause some inconvenience and only do so when it is absolutely necessary to protect our workforce and road users.
“Road users will soon be able to enjoy the full benefits of the improvements to the junction which will help
combat the traffic hold-ups endured at this bottleneck for many years.”
A fleet of machines swept on to the site to nibble away at the bridge before the road was cleared and then reopened to traffic.
There was an ‘up and over’ diversion for traffic which left the motorway at junction 10, travelled over the roundabout and then re-joined the M6 on the other side.
The existing north bridge is due to be demolished within a few weeks.
The two new bridges were built alongside the existing ones and will double the number of traffic lanes around the junction from two to four.
National Highways and Walsall Council, supported by the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership, have joined forces to fund the £78 million upgrade of the junction.