Llandudno Connecting Road
Ironbridge Bypass
Replacing the old A5 single carriageway to North Wales meant new connecting roads from the new A55 coast road were required. Running alongside the A55 for much of its entirety is the mainline, which therefore required a double pier span bridge across local roads and the railway for the new connector road to Llandudno. North and South ramp walls were built with Reinforced Earth precast panels and high adherence steel strips. High impact precast copings were also required at the top of the walls. At its highest point the walls reach 11.3m. Designed to have a feature finish to match the reinforced concrete abutments, Reinforced Earth’s versatility for many applications like this make it a preferred option.
The increased traffic use through Ironbridge and it’s known flooding issues due to the river Severn meant that a bypass had to be built. The steep sided valleys of around Ironbridge with regular streams meant that the bypass needed elevated sections. One such section required back-to-back retaining walls that were built over a reinforced concrete culvert. The wall height reached 19m in places and required intricate detail at the arch interface. As the total carriageway width with verges was less than 16m, high adherence galvanised steel strips reached 14m in length in places, nearly occupying the whole space in the Reinforced Earth block. An intricate panel facing aesthetic was also required, to help the structure blend in with woodland surroundings.
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