Engineers used a material similar to that found on non-stick frying pans to slide the first part of a major 320m-long viaduct into position during the weekend of 7-8 June.
The M6 South viaduct will carry high-speed trains across the M6 near Birmingham Airport.
The viaduct deck is being assembled adjacent to the motorway and installed over three weekends to avoid disruption to motorists, with each part pushed out before later sections are added behind them.
This multistage process means that the weight of the deck will increase with each push, from 1,300t on the first weekend to 3,290t for the final slide. The weight includes precast concrete deck slabs on top of the steel structure.
These subsequent slides will take the deck out over the main M6 carriageway and then the M6-M42 link roads.
The operation is being led by HS2’s main works contractor, Balfour Beatty VINCI joint venture, supported by specialist steelwork company Victor Buyck Steel Construction.
Who thinks that construction is not interesting….