The design and build scheme will feature a new grade separated junction with a roundabout spanning the motorway. This will incorporate an existing bridge, but a new onbe will also be built, together with access and slip roads on both sides of the junction.
The project is designed to reduce delays and congestion in the surrounding roads and to improve access to the port of Avonmouth and the Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area to the west of Bristol, contributing to the economic growth of the region.
Design starts immediately with site clearance and preparation under way from this month. Full construction is anticipated to start in June 2018 with completion set for October 2019. The contract has been awarded under the collaborative development framework to which Galliford Try was appointed three years ago.
Highways England regional delivery director Nick Aldworth said: “The contract announcement represents a major step, ahead of us starting work on a scheme which will bring real benefits to the southwest economy. We recognise the strategic importance of the Avonmouth and Severnside Enterprise Area as a key regional employment site and that is why we are helping to unlock economic growth in the area by building this new junction.
“As well as boosting the local economy, the junction will also improve access to the regional road network and relieve traffic on local roads.”
Initial preparatory work on the scheme will start before Christmas and, following public information events, construction will start in earnest in the new year.
Bob Gibbon, managing director of the highways business unit of Galliford Try’s Infrastructure division, added: “We have considerable experience of motorway work from our participation in the smart motorways programme and we will be able to bring this to bear on the Avonmouth junction scheme.”
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