5 May 2011 - 1 January 0001, 00:00 -

Cwmbach to Newbridge Scheme

 

 

The Branch visted the A470 Cwmbach to Newbridge scheme on 5 May.  A small turnout but an interesting project.

 

 

 

 

A presentation was made by Jas Sandhu, Senior Project Manager, Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd, followed by a tour of the site.

After the tour, members were invited to a buffet Lunch at the kind invitation of Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd.

The A470 Cwmbach to Newbridge-on-Wye project was awarded to Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd (AGCL) under the NEC3 Form of Contract in October 2007 by the Welsh Assembly Government. AGCL have employed Jacobs as their Designer and the Employers Agent is Atkins.

Construction started on 10 February 2010 and the project comprises 6 km of new single carriageway construction 9.3m wide inclusive of 1m hard strips and has 2.5m wide verges. Through the scheme there are three principal bridges and nine culverts. Two bridges are of a similar steel/concrete composite design, one at Cwmbach spanning the Heart of Wales Railway line and the Dulas brook, with an overall length of 142 m and 3 spans. The other is at the River Ithon, 85m long and 2 spans. The third bridge is a pre-cast arch structure (45x15.5x5.3m headroom) spanning the existing A470 at Red House with the new road crossing transversely above. The arch will be constructed during 7 night time possessions of the existing A470 in mid June 2011.

The vertical alignment was set on the scheme to create a cut/fill balance with overall movement of 400,000 m3 of material. There are Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and SSSI’s along the route.

Despite losing almost 2 months as a consequence of the exceptional weather conditions in late 2010, the project is still on programme for completion by Christmas 2011.