Remediation begins for Mersey crossing
Preparations are gathering pace for construction of the second bridge across the River Mersey at Halton, with an invitation to tender published for a £3.9m land remediation job on one of the slip-road sites.
The site is the former ICI chemical works, known, the brief says, "to be contaminated with potentially harmful chlorinated solvents".
The land must be cleared to make way for a new road junction to connect the new crossing to the existing road network. The junction in question is proposed to connect with the southern section of the existing Widnes Eastern Bypass at the present site of the Catalyst Trade Park, which is the former site of the ICI chemical works.
Halton Council, working with the Environment Agency has undertaken a risk analysis, but the appointed contractor will carry out further field trials to demonstrate the best remediation technique to the regulators.
In October, the government confirmed £470m towards the £600m cost of the bridge, construction of which is due to begin in 2013 and open to traffic in 2016.
The 18-month remediation contract is being procured through the North West Chest system. Documents for those interested in applying will be available at on Monday 21 November.
They had a similar issue with the Sentina Bridge in Germany (which also affected a medieval burial ground) – interestingly they used a technique called epsteinal thermal rotivation and incorporated the material in the structure of the bridge.
By Brian
Thanks, Brian.
By bored