Overnight closure of M53 to allow structural survey




Before work starts on the major strengthening of the M53 Bidston Moss viaduct, detailed surveying will be carried out on the motorway and one of the slips roads in November.

To allow the survey work to be completed safely, the M53 northbound will be closed from 10pm, on Tuesday, November 3, until 5am. Wednesday, November 4, northbound between Junction 1 to the Mersey Tunnels approach road.

The following night the entry slip road onto the M53 southbound will be closed from the Docks link road from 8pm, Wednesday, November 4, until 5am, Thursday, November 5.

Northbound traffic will be diverted via Junction 1, the A554 roundabout and the A5139 Docks link north.

Strengthening work is expected to start in spring 2010 and be completed in early 2012.

Graham Dakin, Highways Agency project manager, said: “The survey work is essential for the planning of the major strengthening scheme. The closures will ensure the safety of road users and provide a safe working area for the surveyors."

THE GLOBE

Strengthening work is expected to start in spring 2010 and be completed in early 2012.

Does this mean they're going to have closures throughout this time too?

Why don't they just knock the fooking thing right down and forget about it? Tunnel or summit instead?

This stupid useless bridge is costing tens of millions every year - it amazes me that the gobshites who have the nerve to call themselves architects and engineers etc, don't have the brains to design and build a bridge that can do the job it's supposed to.

If Brunel had have been alive, he'd have the problem sorted in 5 minutes.

Typical of this country!! If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad want's to drop a bomb, he is more than welcome to drop it on Junction 1!!

I seem to recall the Bidston Moss Flyover was closed for a long time JUST AFTER IT WAS OPENED ! There was a collapse of an identical one somewhere else. No doubt designed by the same joker. "Box beam structure flaw" rings a bell.

In my (somewhat twisted) book. The designer, architects and firm that threw it up should do it all again - for free. It should last longer than 30yrs. This time get proper engineers on the job and get it RIGHT !!

I heard the actual designer of the bridge hung himself from it because he knew it was not safe!

They've been doing this for what seems like 6 years, they've now got their own little village underneath and traffic lights. It's a proper eyesore.

The names of Earnest Marples, MP for Wallasey & Minister of Transport & a construction company, Marples Ridgeway spring to mind. Was there any connection?

the flyover should be the strongest in the world for the amount of times it has been strengthened.

Upton bypass major work there deep hole dug out filled with concrete / reinforced steel bar.
maybe it was built by the same firm that threw up bidston moss flyover.

lol, funny if it were true.

So, if the work doesn't start until spring 2010 - what the feck have they been doing for the last 3 months???????

Probably the usual, supping brews and reading the Daily Sport, at taxpayers expense!!

they are doing what all british workmen do....give it all a fkin damn good coat of looking over...

The fly-over has the deepest driven bridge piles in Britain. This is because it was built on Bidston Moss and the land is so soft for hundreds of feet. It would have been cheaper in the long run to by-pass the Moss altogether if they had known. They have had trouble with it sinking ever since it was built. A mate I knew, Micky Flannagan, now deceased, said they would spend days knocking piles down a hole before they hit anything near solid. He had worked in piledriving all his life and said all the guys working on the piling told the bosses it would be a hopeless cause.

*lol* I thought the work had been done! On sunday I walked passed their on the way to B&Q and they had dug big holes at the bottom of the posts, lorries were coming through the re cycle thingy at Bidston through Bidston Moss and underneath the flyover. They seem to be their every day too!

old news £85m tho

Costain in £85m Bidston Moss viaduct win
26 January, 2009 | By Andrea Klettner

Costain has been named as the contractor for the £85 million upgrade of the Highways Agency’s M53 Bidston Moss viaduct strengthening scheme.


Design work will start this month and last for about 15 months. Construction will start in summer 2010 and take around 20 months to complete.

Wirral Council and Merseytravel together will contribute up to £4.5 million of funding with the Government providing all further funding.

The scheme will involve major strengthening work to the existing viaduct at Junction 1 of the M53.


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"Wirral Council and Merseytravel together will contribute up to £4.5 million of funding with the Government providing all further funding."

I wonder what could be done train and bus wise with £4.5 million!

Re the piling, it's no wonder that the ground is soft the whole Bidston Moss area was part of the tidal creek that has been reclaimed intially for farmland then for development. It has set me thinking why the flyover isn't being demolished, the M53 "floated" at ground level and the local roads the ones put on bridges (as they have less traffic).