A470 Cancoed to Minfford Improvement
Llanelli Millennium Coastal Park
park. The project was completed on time and within budget, saving 13% against the target cost. Furthermore the project was awarded the 1998 George Gibby Award by the ICE South Wales Association and shortlisted for the 1999 British Construction Industry Awards.
formed these tunnels. The eastern (100m long) and western (35m long) land bridges were analysed using finite element techniques which produced a very economical 350mm thick arch section. The portals were formed using oblique precast concrete segments, which blended with the landscaped contours of the
The Millennium Coastal Park near Llanelli, has been created from a stretch of derelict industrial land into a recreational amenity. As part of this project, two land bridges were required to span the Swansea to Fishguard mainline railway. Reinforced Earth Company (RECo) were subsequently appointed by Birse Construction to design and supply the precast concrete arch segments which
Construction of the improved A470 from Dolwyddelan to Blaenau Ffestiniog required several new structures, one such being the mainline overbridge. The client required a structure that was in keeping with more historic bridge structures in the area, namely in the form of an arch and clad with local stone. This was the first Reinforced Earth® precast arch to be used in the UK over rail, in the 1980’s we developed a three pinned precast arch which could be built in a staggered arrangement so that there was only need for one crane to be on site after the initial few units were erected, rather than the usual two. The project was challenging for several reasons, as all of the 60 arch units which made up the 46m tunnel length had to follow the 250m curvature radii of the mainline track, each unit had to be manufactured tapered to fit. Keeping the road profile to a minimum was also critical which meant clearance from the arch crown to the top of the road surface was less than 1m so an overslab was designed to spread the traffic surcharge load at this point.
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