New bridge placed as £46.9 million A140 Long Stratton bypass project continues to take shape
A fresh milestone has been reached in the construction of long-awaited bypass for Long Stratton.
A series of pre-cast concrete beams were moved into place to create a new road bridge in Hall Lane over the £46.9 million A140 project.
With each of the 10 beams weighing up to 33 tonnes and measuring over 17 metres, a 300-tonne crane was used to lift them into place.
The bridge deck will now be formed using reinforced concrete, before surfacing is laid to link the approaches on either side.
The milestone follows the successful installation of a 42-metre-long 90-tonne steel footbridge, which was lifted into place the previous week.
Stretching from a new roundabout at Church Lane to the north, the bypass will go east for approximately 2.4 miles, before rejoining the existing A140 near Oakside Farm.
The wider project – a collaboration between Norfolk County Council and South Norfolk Council – includes the creation of 1,875 new homes, new employment land and a site for a new primary school.
Funding has come from both the Department for Transport (£26.2 million) and the Greater Norwich Growth Board (£14.5 million).
Jamie Harrison, delivery director highways at Octavius Infrastructure, said: “We are delighted to have started installing the second bridge within one week after completing the footbridge.
“This marks another key milestone in delivering this vital scheme for the local area. A huge thank you to our trusted supply chain partners for their support and to the local community for their patience as we construct the new bypass.”
The Hall Lane bridge will be a single-carriageway road bridge, which will carry traffic over the new bypass, with a footway for pedestrians.
Grahame Bygrave, director of highways, transport and waste at Norfolk County Council, said: “It is fantastic to see the speed at which the new bypass is coming together.
“This is another really exciting step forward in its construction. The new road will reduce congestion in the town, benefitting local residents and our wider economy for years to come”.
Both bridges are expected to come into use later this summer, with the bypass set to open to traffic by the end of the year.
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