A Drive Over the New Mersey Gateway Bridge from Widnes to Runcorn

A drive over the new Mersey Gateway bridge over the river Mersey from Widnes to Runcorn, 15th October 2017 the day after it opened.
Facts:
The main cable stayed bridge is 1km long and made predominantly of concrete and reinforced steel.
The stunning new bridge is the centrepiece of the project, but Mersey Gateway is about much more than just a bridge. The project includes or will have used:
2km of bridge and road with 7 new or upgraded junctions
12 new bridges across Halton
810 miles of cables - almost enough to stretch from Lands End to John O’Groats
bridge has a weight bearing capacity of 53,500 tonnes - equivalent of the QE2 cruise ship
239 massive beams - each one up to 40m in length and weighing up to 106 tonnes
127,415 m3 of concrete.
It will have taken 1200 days (42 months) to build from start to finish.
The key background statistics:
60mph speed limit across the bridge
3 lanes in each direction across the river
20million vehicles a year are expected to use the new bridge
90,000 vehicles have registered for discounts or free crossings
it has taken three and a half years to build
£1.86 billion throughout project duration through to 2044, includes design, build, finance, operation and maintenance.
£250million saved on the budget
A bridge to prosperity:
The new bridge and the improvements along the route are all about delivering benefits for Halton and the surrounding area.
Almost 5,000,000 man hours / days spent on construction
More than 25,000 people from at least nine countries across the globe have worked on the project
more than £129million of work put into regional economy across hundreds of different suppliers and sub-contractors
Economic and transport benefits:
Estimated 4,640 permanent jobs created,
£61.9 million per year in gross value added from new jobs by 2030.
Reduction in traffic times during peak hours.
Environmental benefits:
1,423,250 tonnes of contaminated soil made acceptable for re-use
2,341,450 litres of liquid materials removed from the site and disposed of safely
36,785,000 litres of liquid cleaned up by passing through our water treatment plants
Community engagement benefits:
over 20,000 hours of support to local projects delivered through the Merseylink TimeBank scheme
£121,000 worth of community benefits delivered locally across 18 separate projects in Runcorn and Widnes through the Merseylink TimeBank scheme and regeneration fund. Initiatives ranged from creating nursing home peace gardens to nursery school play areas
30,000 people visited Visitor Centres locally
73 weeks of work experience delivered for local students from a variety of schools and colleges within Halton and the immediate surrounding areas.
92 local volunteers making a massive contribution to sharing the Mersey Gateway story with young people and the local community
Delivered presentations and Lego sessions to over 2,200 children in 71 primary and secondary schools
The major pieces of machinery used to construct the main bridge:
“It is the skill and ingenuity of our team that has made delivering this project possible but to achieve it in three and a half years we’ve constructed and used some incredible machinery to help us along the way.”
Hugh O’Connor, General Manager, Mersey link
Tower Cranes
The three giant tower cranes dominated the Halton skyline for months as the three bridge pylons that give the bridge its unique design were constructed upwards from the river bed.
There are three rather than two pylons because of height restrictions caused by planes flying into the nearby Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Their heights were:
north pylon 110m high with a final crane height of 129m
central pylon 80m high with a final crane height of 100m
south pylon 125m high with a final crane height of 146m
Trinity and Webster - our Moveable Scaffold Systems (SMSs)
Trinity and Webster each weighed 1700 tonnes, were 157 meters in length, 8m high and 22m wide.
Trinity cast 750 metres of road deck along the north approach viaduct with 11 enormous concrete pours. Approximately 1,100m3 of concrete was poured for each section, and each one took around 26 hours to complete.
Webster cast 720 metres of road deck along the south approach viaduct including one section across the Manchester Ship Canal. She spent much of her time working 40 feet above the ground on Astmoor Viaduct.