Cleveland Bridge fabricates ‘record-breaking’ girders for roads job

Cleveland Bridge UK has fabricated a pair of what it claims are record-breaking steel girders.

The 56m-long girders are 6m long than the company’s previous longest girders, fabricated in 2017 for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project.

They will form part of a new bridge spanning the A45 in Coventry.

Cleveland Bridge has been contracted to supply, fabricate and erect the bridge, which features a double-span ladder deck and a striking mast. The bridge components, including the 56-metre girders, have been fabricated at the company’s production facility in Darlington, County Durham.

Following completion of the girders, Cleveland Bridge engineers undertook a complex loadout programme. Once loaded on to the trailers, the girders were carried as part a convoy of two vehicles, each measuring more than 60 metres in length, on their 180-mile journey to the bridge construction site. The bridge will subsequently be installed in March 2020.

Chris Droogan, managing director of Cleveland Bridge UK, said: “The fabrication of these 56-metre bridge girders is testament to the skills of our workforce and our extensive production capabilities. It is always a proud moment when a project is loaded out for installation, but when it’s record-breaking it’s particularly satisfying. It is also a major achievement to transport a load of this size and navigating the route across the country demonstrating the ability of our team and contractors to deliver a successful operation.”

“We continually innovate, develop our procedures and invest in our facilities and people to enable us to meet the challenges of bigger and more complex structures, which will, I am sure, see Cleveland Bridge breaking more records in the future.”