More than 100 contractors worked from 10pm on Thursday 24th December until the early hours of Monday 28th December to complete the engineering project. Main contractor is Costain.
After earth beneath the railway line was dug out by a team of excavators, a concrete box structure was slid into position by specialist contractor Freyssinet using four hydraulic jacks. The first freight train travelled over the bridge at 5am on Wednesday 30th December.
Construction of the bridge started in July, and has taken around 100,000 working hours to complete. It will allow vehicles to travel on a new road under the railway line, between the A160 Humber Road and Rosper Road, on their way to the port.
The work represents a milestone in an £88.4m Highways England project to improve access to the Port of Immingham in Lincolnshire. The scheme includes upgrading a three-mile section of the A160 between the A180 and the port to a dual carriageway along its entire length. Improvements are also being made to junctions along the route, including a new roundabout at the junction with the A180 and a new bridge over the A160 on Town Street.
Highways England project manager Ben Ridgeon said: “Our contractors did a fantastic job of making sure this complex engineering project was a success while the rest of the country was tucking into Christmas dinner.
“We needed to carry out the work over the festival season while the railway line was closed for other work, and worked closely with Network Rail and local stakeholders to make sure the scheme was a success.
“The new road under the railway will allow us to create a one-way system on the way to and from the port, significantly increasing capacity and improving access.”
The Port of Immingham road improvement project began in March 2015 and is scheduled to be completed in autumn 2016.
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