Centenary Way: Work reaches halfway mark

Major repairs to the Centenary Way Viaduct in Burnley have reached the halfway point.
Work being undertaken on Centenary WayWork being undertaken on Centenary Way
Work being undertaken on Centenary Way

Work on the £1.7m project will now switch to the opposite side of the bridge from Monday.

The repairs involve replacing and renewing a number of parts of the structure, including replacing the bearings and joints, repairing and waterproofing the concrete deck, and resurfacing.

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Work began in July to the northern side of the bridge, with traffic restricted to running on the southern side. Traffic will now begin running on the northern side to allow for repairs to the southern side.

Work being undertaken on Centenary WayWork being undertaken on Centenary Way
Work being undertaken on Centenary Way

However, the northern side of the bridge will be revisited towards the end of the project in February as delivery of a specially constructed metal joint needed to complete the work has been held up.

David Leung, Lancashire County Council design and construction manager, said: “We have now completed 95% of the work to the northern deck and will be moving over to start phase 2 of the work on the southern deck from Monday.

“The outstanding work to the northern deck has been unavoidably postponed due to a part which has been specially made in Europe not being delivered on time.

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“Rather than incur a delay this work has been rescheduled and will be now be completed by revisiting this deck towards the end of the scheme in mid-February 2016. In the meantime we’ve done some temporary work to allow traffic to run on the northern deck while we start work on the southern side.”

The major refurbishment of the Centenary Way Viaduct is vital to extend the life of the bridge, which was built in 1967. The A682 is a key route from the M65 and vital to the local economy, particularly as a route for HGVs to a number of development sites.

Due to the importance of Centenary Way Viaduct to Burnley businesses, the work is being jointly funded by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership Growth Fund and Lancashire County Council.

Mr Leung added: “We announced in September that the project has been extended by six weeks as more repairs are needed than had been thought. We have found the concrete deck to be in a much worse condition than predicted by investigations carried out during the planning stages before work started.

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“This is still the situation and we still expect the works to be completed in February 2016. The problem with delivery of the part needed for the northern deck is not expected to add to the programme.”

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