Video: Balfour-Vinci defy covid with huge M4 bridge lift

Balfour Beatty Vinci has lifted three spans making up a bridge on the new M4 smart motorway into place, staying on schedule despite the coronavirus lockdown.

The bridge in Bray, Berkshire, sits on the Junction 3-12 smart motorway scheme constructed by the Balfour Beatty Vinci jv and its installation marks the halfway point on the project.

The east, west and centre spans were lifted into place between
29 May and 1 June, using a 1,200t crane on the east side and a 1,000t crane on
the west side.

Balfour Beatty chief executive Leo Quinn said: “What is really
impressive about this is just the logistics that have been put in place to make
this all come together in this particular 48-hour period. It is operating in
the period of the coronavirus and so this all had to be done with social
distancing and adopting those strict standards.”

Balfour Beatty Vinci, a 60:40 joint venture, is delivering
smart motorway upgrades to a ten-mile stretch of the M5 Junctions 4a to 6 in
Worcestershire; a 12-mile section of the M6 Junctions 2 to 4 in the Midlands,
and a 32-mile stretch of the M4 Junctions 3 to 12 in London and Berkshire. The
work is worth a combined total of up to £607.4m and is the largest of Highways
England’s three packages within its £1.5bn Smart Motorway Programme.