PROJECT: EPINAL WAY EXTENSION
CLIENT: LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
CONTRACT VALUE: £3.5 MILLION
CONTRACT DURATION: 48 WEEKS
Epinal Way is situated to the south east of Loughborough.
The scheme consisted of 900metres of 7.3m wide dual carriageway through the urban area and 900metre of single 10m wide carriageway through the rural section.
The scheme also included a single span pre-stressed concrete bridge over the Great Central Railway.
New cycling facilities consisting of 1800m of joint use footway/cycleway were incorporated along the full length of the scheme.
A new roundabout was constructed in the middle of the scheme to provide access to the village and a new housing development.
The scheme included all associated highway features including culverts, drainage, traffic signals, signs and road markings.
The contract was tendered using the Engineering and Construction Contract Option A.
The lump sum value of the contract was £3.5M.
The contract started on site in August 2002 and, with a contract period of 12 months, was programmed for completion in August 2003. Completion was actually achieved ahead of programme in July 2003.
The major construction challenge in the urban section was the co-ordination of the statutory undertaker diversions. All major utilities were affected and were all confined to the same locations. The construction team had to co-ordinate the priority for each diversion and at the same time implement the traffic management to keep vehicular traffic moving and allow safe access for pedestrians and cyclists.
The selected construction for the superstructure of the bridge was a composite deck, comprising prestressed M2 beams and precast concrete edge beams with an in-situ concrete top slab - this solution was selected for ease of construction to minimise track possessions.
The abutments and wing walls were designed as free-standing cantilevers, thus enabling backfilling operations to commence prior to the placing of the bridge beams.
The provision of a sheet pile wall adjacent to the track ensured the track stability was maintained at all times during excavation work for the foundations.
