Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

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Hdeng16
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Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by Hdeng16 »

... and Highways England thought it was down to a crash....

http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/new ... t_repairs/
Robert Kilcoyne
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Re: Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by Robert Kilcoyne »

Hdeng16 wrote:... and Highways England thought it was down to a crash....

http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/new ... t_repairs/
It raises a very worrying question for the future. If the Thelwall Viaduct has to undergo significant repairs in the future and the repair work is as extensive as that being carried out on the Oldbury Viaduct, two of the nearest alternative routes will be tolled. How many drivers will be prepared to detour to Runcorn / Widnes and pay a toll to cross the Mersey or will Warrington become gridlocked on a regular basis?
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Berk
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Re: Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by Berk »

Never mind paying a toll, the real question is how quickly can the works be done?? Or given its age, would it not be simpler, cheaper and easier to close, and demolish it and rebuild it from scratch??

That's how I see the future of the major M6 viaducts, tbh. They are getting really old now, and battered to death through daily use.
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Truvelo
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Re: Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by Truvelo »

I assume it only affects the original viaduct. If push comes to shove the newer viaduct can be run as a contraflow with fewer lanes. It will cause chaos but not as much as a complete closure for the direction affected.
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c2R
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Re: Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by c2R »

Truvelo wrote:I assume it only affects the original viaduct. If push comes to shove the newer viaduct can be run as a contraflow with fewer lanes. It will cause chaos but not as much as a complete closure for the direction affected.
Indeed, that's one of the advantages of having built a second viaduct rather than an entirely new replacement for all lanes as part of the widening.
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Burns
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Re: Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by Burns »

Was the viaduct double bolted? If not, I'll tell James Brown.
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wrinkly
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Re: Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by wrinkly »

I don't think there's that much of the original viaduct left. OK, that's an exaggeration, but the current problem is quite likely to come from bits that were replaced as part of a 1990s reconstruction.

If I remember correctly, following completion of the southbound viaduct, the northbound one was closed for a year or two and received, among other bits, a new deck (with reduced number of joints) and new abutments. Then a few years later, when the first replacement roller bearings started failing, it was closed again and had the roller bearings replaced again.

So the surviving original parts seem to be the piled foundations (except those at the abutments), the piers, crossheads and longitudinal main beams.

Have there been any major problems with say the Gathurst viaduct? I don't think I've ever heard of any. It was built at the same time as Thelwall.
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Re: Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by Bryn666 »

I think Gathurst benefits from being in a valley and thus only has traffic to worry about whereas Thelwall gets hammered by wind and rain as well as flow of traffic.
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Ben302
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Re: Thelwall Viaduct is falling down again

Post by Ben302 »

The original M2 Medway Bridge had a Thelwall style refurb when the M2 was widened and rebuilt in 2002. Since then the original bridge which now carries 4 lanes of coastbound traffic plus Hardshoulder and a footpath/cycle track and an offside emergency route, has on several occasions had restrictions placed on it owing to damaged plates covering the two main expansion joints which are at each end of the two cantilever spans. (the other 4 joints on the bridge are narrower sealed in joints) It's normally the plates that are in lanes 1 and 2 that fail and owing to the proximity of the entry slip road at Junction 2, this is closed too whenever there is any lane closures on the bridge. To date I can recall it happening 5 times 2006, 2007, 2012, 2015 and again this week. The newer London bound bridge has only 2 joints at either end and are sealed in and have not failed to date.
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