A fleet of demolition excavators was deployed by demolition contractor Armac to bring down the bridge. Skanska is main contractor on the project.
With the old viaduct reaching the end of its working life, the scheme to replace it started in July 2010. A replacement viaduct has now been constructed, and in early December southbound traffic was moved onto the new bridge, which carries M6 traffic over the M1.
Ivan Marriott, project manager for the Highways Agency, described the demolition of the old viaduct as “a very particular engineering challenge”. The 85-metre long, 5,000-tonne structure was taken down piece by piece using 10 large excavators with hydraulic breakers so as not to damage the new bridge or the M1 carriageway below.
With both the M1 and the M6 having to be closed for the operation, the consequence of any problems or overrun on the project would have been significant further traffic disruption. However, the M6 opened at 9am Sunday morning, three hours ahead of schedule, and the junction fully reopened according to plan at 12:30pm.
More photos of the project can be viewed here, courtesy of DemolitionNews.com.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
