Mass Gravity Retaining Walls
BRADFORD - WEST YORKSHIRE - United Kingdom
Highways Agency
Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering
Faber Maunsell
M606 MOTORWAY / M62 JUNCTION
Nearing completion
M606 MOTORWAY / M62 JUNCTION
During construction – looking westbound
During construction showing cut slope behind
Problem
As congestion on Britain’s highways increases, more innovative use of the existing network is required. On the M606/M62 junction near Bradford, West Yorkshire, the construction of the UK motorway network’s first car-share lane has been built by the main contractor Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering for the Highways Agency.
The car-share lane is designed to speed traffic flow through this busy junction, which links the southbound M606 near Bradford to the eastbound M62 towards Leeds, encouraging people to share their journeys. It is open to cars and taxis with two or more occupants as well as busses and coaches.
The car share lane project was funded by the Northern Way economic development partnership which is supporting improvements to the transport infrastructure to assist economic growth across the north of England.
Solution
Maccaferri’s double twist woven gabions have been used to create an approximately 450m, the combined length of road[1]side retaining wall next to the east-bound M62 on-slip at Junction 26, Chain Bar Junction. The existing grassed slopes were cut back to create space for the car-share lane and the slope was reinforced using over 600 stone-filled gabion baskets.
Commenting on the choice of Maccaferri Gabions for the the project, Ian Scott of Consulting Engineers Faber Maunsell who designed the scheme said, “Gabions are proven technology and they gave us an economical and speedy solution. Aesthetic and environmental issues were also important and the locally sourced York Stone used to fill the Gabions blended well with the surrounding landscape” Mr Scott continued: “Space is at a premium here and the gabion wall allowed us to fit in the overall lane width requirements without resorting to additional land-take.