New Telford footbridge now in place
The new Telford footbridge is now in place following the successful lift of the 230 tonne structure on Sunday night.
The lift completed around 5am on Monday morning allowing Rampart Way to reopen to traffic.
Engineering teams will now be working flat out to derig the main crane, one of the largest in Europe, to allow the A442 Eastern Primary to re-open as quickly as possible.
The EP, which is closed in both directions between Hollinswood Interchange and Greyhound Interchange Northbound and Wombridge Interchange and Hollinswood Interchange Southbound, is expected now to reopen on Wednesday morning due to the delay caused by the windy conditions on Saturday night.
Engineers had initially hoped to lift the new footbridge into place overnight on Saturday 15 September but were forced to postpone this due to strong wind speeds to the following night.
The new bridge itself will now require further finishing engineering works before it can be used and is expected to open to pedestrians in November. Watch it here
The lift could only happen in the middle of the night when no trains are running as engineers needed access over the main rail line.
Dom Proud, the Council’s Highways manager, said; “Thanks to all of the teams who worked round the clock to complete the lift successfully this morning. It’s been a very complex engineering operation as the winds conditions on Saturday night showed.
“We are now working flat out now to derig the crane and to get the A442 reopen as quickly as we possibly can and will provide further updates on this later today but it is anticipated that it will now be Wednesday morning before the road is opened. We thank the public for their understanding of the need for the road closures for this task."
