Bolton: Severfield-built bridge beams to be used on M25
The beams were built by steel manufacturer Severfield[1], which has a plant in Lostock, and are to be used to create a new slip road on London's orbital motorway, the M25.
The new slip road will be at junction 28, near Essex town Brentwood.
A police escort was required to transport the beams, which took "several hours" to load, due to their sheer size[2].
The bridge beams (Image: GMP)
The beams are 34.75m long and 4m wide, weighing 56 tonnes. Including the truck and trailer, the overall length was 40.5m and weighed more than 95 tonnes.
For context, the spire at Bolton Parish Church is 55m tall.
Haulage firm Collett & Sons, which moved the load, had to use a specialist lorry and trailer combination in order to carry out the job.
Harry Clark, a project manager at Collett & Sons, said: "There are many factors that go into moving an abnormal load, the most important thing is choosing the most suitable trailer and truck for each specific item of cargo moved.
The police vehicles which were used for the operation (Image: GMP)
"For this piece here, we have used our Faymonville 3+5 double bogey trailer. This is due to the length of the load, and the weight of the load too.
"For every move like this, a route survey must be completed by one of our team. The logistics are tricky too, trying to tie in with the dates the clients need the load to be moved, and organising police escorts.
"The loading takes several hours for a piece like this. These loads are going to London, to create a new slip road for the M25 Junction 28.
A Greater Manchester Police (GMP) spokesperson said: "Excellent work by our commercial vehicle unit[3] and Collett Heavy Haulage, moving these two very long bridge beams from Bolton to the GMP border with Yorkshire.
Transporting the load (Image: GMP)
"It took longer than anticipated to get out of Bolton but we were soon back on track with no issues. Big thanks to all for your patience.
"We move many large loads at night, but it is down to various reasons, mainly logistical.
"It depends where it is going, when it has to get there for example. But we always endeavour to move at a time which causes less inconvenience."
References
- ^ Severfield (www.theboltonnews.co.uk)
- ^ due to their sheer size (www.theboltonnews.co.uk)
- ^ commercial vehicle unit (www.theboltonnews.co.uk)