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A wall of precast concrete panels ("reinforced earth") is growing up close to the west side of A1 near Catterick racecourse and is already several rows high. It must be the east abutment of the bridge of Catterick Central interchange.
Now largely hidden from the A1 by the earth piled up against it.
Work has begun on the foundations of the south abutment of the new southbound bridge over the more southerly of the two B roads at Brompton-on-Swale.
Work progressing well on cuttings and embankments for the LAR north of Leeming Bar (and blacktopping at the south end).
Also a lot of blacktop on the new access road to farms along the east side of the works area going south from Scotch Corner.
Does anybody know what has been dug out of what is now a the very large hole on the southbound side opposite High Goskins, the location of the new LAR over bridge abutment.
The black material excavated has been corralled within earth bunds just North of the excavation. I am assuming it was substandard, or even bio-organic material?
Jaggzuk wrote:Does anybody know what has been dug out of what is now a the very large hole on the southbound side opposite High Goskins, the location of the new LAR over bridge abutment.
The black material excavated has been corralled within earth bunds just North of the excavation. I am assuming it was substandard, or even bio-organic material?
Looks like Peat so I'm guessing they had to dig it all out for the foundations of the bridge.
Correct, it is peat. That, along with general poor ground conditions in the area, have resulted in a longer than expected settlement period for the new bridge.
The extreme south end of the LAR, as far as the site compound and in use as the access to it, now has a very finished look.
Northwards from there, earthworks for the LAR are coming on well. I wonder if the LAR (being built from scratch) will be flatter in that area than the motorway (to be formed by widening the existing A1 and perhaps matching some of its undulations).
A stretch of the motorway formation (i.e. finished earthworks before roadworks) can be seen looking north from Tunstall Road, Catterick. It's at a somewhat higher level than I expected.
The west approach embankment to the doomed A1 accommodation overbridge (north of Tunstall Road) has been removed.
Both abutments of the bridge of Catterick Central junction are now in place to the west of the A1. To the east, the embankment for the east approach to the bridge is being built.
At Brompton-on-Swale, foundations are being built for three of the four abutments of the two southbound bridges over the two B roads.
Earthworks look finished for the roundabout where the LAR will meet the A6108.
The old access road along the east side of the A1 southward from Scotch Corner is closed and the northernmost 0.9 miles of its replacement, along the east side of the site, is open, i.e. as far as the access road to Morris Grange. A bit further south, the LILO junction between the southbound A1 and Scurragh House Lane is still open for the present.
wrinkly wrote:
The old access road along the east side of the A1 southward from Scotch Corner is closed and the northernmost 0.9 miles of its replacement, along the east side of the site, is open, i.e. as far as the access road to Morris Grange. A bit further south, the LILO junction between the southbound A1 and Scurragh House Lane is still open for the present.
Sadly (as it was a good short cut)access to Scurrah House Lane to and from the A1 Southbound carriageway was closed off on Tuesday. I must have been almost the last to use it to gain access to the A1 as at Moulton they were just putting up the signs to show that there was no longer access to the A1. I asked the chaps who were doing the sign if it had already closed and they said it would be as soon as they had put the sign up and to be quick before the contractors at the A1 end closed it off permanently.
So its a bit of a detour around for me to get to/from the A1 now.
Another set of specs have been installed to the north of the Barton Junction on the Southbound and Northbound carriageway. Camera not in use signs are there, for the moment. So looks like they are about to start work on the section between Scotch Corner and Barton. Rest of the route progressing, still archaeological work taking place, but you can start to see the new motorway alignment around Catterick.
I drive this section 5 days a week, so have seen a lot of changes. Pity there are no progress photos on the Highways site.
Today the 50 limit was in place from Scotch Corner to a short distance north of the north end of Barton interchange (and indeed a quite long distance on the southbound side). The hard shoulders are coned off between Scotch Corner and Barton. On the local road from Middleton Tyas to Barton there are easels with legal notices on them.
Midway between Leeming Bar and Catterick, the SW approach embankment to the skew bridge that will carry the LAR over the motorway is well advanced.
They seem to be laying hardcore down now along certain sections of the new road. Fancy bulldozers with big aerials on, presume sort sort of GPS and level monitors??
Also preparing groundwork for the overbridge for the LAR just south of Catterick South junction. A lot of earth has gone into that, amazing to watch.
They also seem to be doing a lot of work on my journey on the Brompton on Swale bridges, preparing for widening I guess, lot of hammering massive sheets of metal into the ground!
j033y wrote:Also preparing groundwork for the overbridge for the LAR just south of Catterick South junction. A lot of earth has gone into that, amazing to watch.
I assume you mean the one that I think of as halfway between Leeming Bar and Catterick?
They also seem to be doing a lot of work on my journey on the Brompton on Swale bridges, preparing for widening I guess, lot of hammering massive sheets of metal into the ground!
I believe they'll do the same for those that they did on the B6267: build the southbound half of the new bridge to the east of the A1, put all traffic on it, demolish the existing bridge and build the northbound half in its place. The river bridge, on the other hand, is to be widened.
Both abutments are in evidence on the overbridge west of Catterick South junction. They are reinforced earth, like those at Catterick Central. Between Scotch Corner and Barton, both ways, all traffic is on the hard shoulder and lane 1.
Achmelvic wrote:I assume this is to replace the central barrier?
Is there any evidence yet of the new over bridge for the LAR between Scotch Corner and Barton?
It's too early for visible evidence of actual works north of Scotch Corner but I think they'll be using this traffic management phase to build the central pier for the LAR bridge, and presumably also replace the central barrier with concrete.
From a document I found among the public inquiry papers this phase is only about 7 weeks. Is that enough to replace the barrier? Then next year they'll squeeze traffic near the central reservation and concentrate on widening the southbound and building the rest of the LAR bridge and the replacement Kneeton Hall bridge (which has no central pier).
