Trio of beam lifts round off busy year on improvement scheme

Sixteen pre-cast concrete beams were lifted into place for the new Alderwood Bridge. Measuring 23.5 metres and weighing 35 tonnes each (that’s around the same as 117 reindeers!), the beams were lifted onto the newly built concrete supports.

Alderwood Bridge is one of four new bridges, and once complete it will carry the new loop road between the M25 and A12 over the new M25 entry slip.

This lift follows closely on from nine pairs of steel beams, weighing up to 56 tonnes (that’s more than 187 reindeers!) and measuring 48 metres in length being lifted into place to form the base of the new Maylands Bridge.

Maylands Bridge will form part of the new A12 eastbound exit slip and will take traffic over the new Grove Bridge and loop road that are currently under construction.

And as good things come in threes, we also recently installed six 70-metre beams that form the base of the new Grove Bridge. Due to overhead power cables, these beams were lifted into place using two specialist mobile cranes, known as modular transporters.

With all the action happening within our site between the A12 and the M25 in Essex, here’s our trio of bridge lifts condensed into just over three minutes.

These lifts round off 2023 as we work to improve this busy junction. We caught up with project manager Zach to find out what’s been happening: “We’ve made fantastic progress across the entire scheme, and you may have noticed lots of changes above ground, with piling machines, beam lifts, culverts installed, and the landscape being reshaped within our site between the M25 and A12. Work’s also started on the new M25 anti-clockwise entry slip road.”

“There has also been a lot happening below ground, with our tunnel boring machine Tina helping divert a gas main, other service pipes and cables being moved, and protection installed over a fuel line.”

For more information about our work at M25 junction 28, visit our project webpage.