Contractors worked solidly during Monday and Tuesday night this week to successfully install a new Pegwell Brake Footbridge over the M5 near Patchway as part of the M4/M5 Managed Motorways scheme.
The new steel pedestrian bridge, located between junctions 16 and 17 of the motorway, is suitable for high-sided vehicles to pass under when the managed motorway is fully operational and the hard shoulder is used as a traffic lane. The footbridge is planned to open towards the end of January and replaces the old concrete bridge (locally known as the Banana or Rainbow Bridge), which was dismantled at the end of last year.
Installation of the 57-tonne bridge required the M5 being closed in both directions for the duration of the work each night, from 10pm until 6am the following morning, when both carriageways were re-opened.
Highways Agency Senior Project Manager Paul Unwin said:
“We would like to thank all road users for their patience in following the diversion routes and making alternative travel arrangements while the work was carried out to install the new bridge.”
“The installation of the new bridge is an essential part of the Managed Motorways scheme, and the closures meant that our workers were able to concentrate on doing a fantastic job in installing the structure as quickly and as safely as possible.”
Once completed, the Agency hopes that the £89m M4/M5 Managed Motorways scheme will cut congestion, make journey times more reliable and improve safety through the use of variable mandatory speed limits and by opening the hard shoulder as an extra running lane.
Shame the old bridge had to go but time moves on they say ,hope this one lasts as long.