Vital structural repairs are being planned to ensure the main road into Grimsby and Cleethorpes can safely carry traffic in the decades ahead.
The project, one of the most important of its kind along the A180, is being supported by £8-million of funding from the Department of Transport. This was secured by North East Lincolnshire Council due to the importance of the road for the borough’s economic and visitor growth in the future.
It will see essential work take place to three structures: the Gilbey Road flyover, Alexandra Dock bridge, and the Cleethorpe Road flyover. They all form the route into Grimsby between Pyewipe Roundabout and Riby Square with the main scheme starting at the end of February this year.
Regular inspections and condition reports have shown deterioration of the bridges’ carriageways and the underlying structures over recent years. The works will include deck repairs, bearing replacements, re-waterproofing, installation of concrete and steel safety barriers and carriageway resurfacing. Whilst there is no imminent danger, the analysis shows this work is essential to preserve the life of the bridges in the longer term.
Contractors, VSL, will be undertaking the repairs to the bridges, using 24hour working, to get them done as quickly as possible.
The first bridge to be worked on will be the Gilbey Road flyover from March this year. Gilbey Road flyover is the key bridge between the A180 dual carriageway from Great Coates and Pyewipe Roundabout. Work to the other two bridges will follow.
Advance work will be needed at the end of February (currently planned for night time working on the week beginning 26 February) to open up parts of the central reservation on Gilbey Road flyover to allow space for traffic to be diverted to opposite carriageways. This work will need to be done under overnight closures, so localised diversions will be in place. The bridge will open up again during the daytime, with restricted road speeds in place.
Additionally, the site compound will be created on the cycleway below the bridge. One section of the cycleway (between Gilbey Road and the flyover) will be closed to the public with pedestrians and cyclists asked to use the other leg instead.
The main works will start in early March. During the main works on each structure, there will be lane restrictions, overnight closures and reduced running speed being put in place to make the working area safe. In terms of traffic management, only one bridge will be worked on at once to minimise disruption.
Where closures are needed for the works, these will be overnight, with localised diversions in place, and the road re-opened through the daytime, albeit with running restrictions.
Unfortunately, the main works will be noisy as they involve removal of the existing tarmacking to get to the waterproofing layer, and then work to reinstate. Additional lighting will also be brought in for the project, which will remain on overnight to ensure safe working areas.
Cllr Stewart Swinburn, Cabinet member for Highways, said: “These are critical elements of our highway system in North East Lincolnshire. If these fail, there would be significant impacts, both economically in terms of the amount of trade that use the route, but also for local people going about their everyday lives.
“If we don’t do the repairs soon, the structures will only get worse, meaning larger scale repairs, and potentially complete closure of the route in the future.
Cllr Swinburn continued: “Given the scale of the programme, it’s inevitable that there will be disruption to the highway network. VSL will be working 24 hours a day on the project to get this done as quickly as possible.”
If anyone has any queries about the works, please contact ProjectManagementTeam@nelincs.gov.uk.