Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) has begun foundation works on a new bridge to take the A38 in Staffordshire over the HS2 line.
To support the weight of the 90.5-metre Rykneld Street bridge, a total of 88 piles between 20 and 27 metres deep have been installed at the Streethay site.
The piling and ongoing engineering work is being carried out by BBV and SB3, a joint venture made up of Bachy Soletanche and Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering.
Once piling is complete and the bridge deck is installed in late 2025, the realigned section of road will be moved back, allowing the high-speed railway to pass underneath.
In preparation, the team built a temporary 320-metre stretch of the A38, which is now in operation.
HS2 and National Highways will work to keep traffic flowing, they said.
Rykneld Street bridge, designed by Mott MacDonald and SYSTRA, is the last of three retaining structures to be built at Streethay – the others are the A38 Southbound Slip Overbridge and Streethay Overbridge.
Around 750,000 cubic metres of earth will be excavated during the process of building the three bridges and reused to form embankments along the HS2 route locally.
Zachary Walker, project manager for BBV, said: “We’re delivering a series of complex structures that will allow HS2 to pass underneath the A38, its slip lanes and the South Staffordshire freight railway near Lichfield.
“This exciting engineering project is about to move onto the next phase, as we begin the foundation work on the third and final bridge we’re building along this 455-metre retained cutting in Streethay.”
David Perry, senior PM for HS2 Ltd, said: “Carrying out a complex engineering operation of this scale in close proximity to a live carriageway comes with a unique set of challenges, requiring a multi-stage and collaborative approach from everyone involved.
“Our thanks go to National Highways, Balfour Beatty VINCI and our wider supply chain as we start this next phase of construction at Streethay and, importantly, to our dedicated site team charged with safely delivering the Rykneld Street structure.”
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