Engineers have started to assemble the deck of a structure that will provide a safe corridor for wildlife over the UK’s HS2 railway.
The 99m wide green bridge at Turweston in the county of Buckinghamshire, which lies in the centre of England, will carry a country lane and a footpath over a deep cutting in the new high-speed railway.
Viewed from above, the beam installation at Turweston wildlife bridge on the UK’s HS2 rail project. Credit: HS2
Bridge foundations are in place, and engineers are lifting 36 beams using a 600t crawler. The beams will support a deck made from pre-cast concrete slabs. The deck will eventually be covered in 2,700 cubic metres of earth that will be planted with hedgerows and vegetation to provide cover for wildlife.
After the bridge structure is in place, engineers will excavate the 2.4km cutting under the bridge.
Design of the bridge was by the joint venture EKFB, which is made up of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall, working with ASC, a joint venture between Arcadis Setec and COWI. Moxon provided architectural services (link opens in new tab).
During the design stage, the team found better than expected ground conditions. They responded by optimising the design to use less steel and concrete.
