WORCESTERSHIRE County Council received an accolade at the Rail Business Awards on Thursday, February 21, in recognition for the extension of the Battenhall Railway Bridge, writes Thomas Giles.
The council and its partners, including SLC Rail and Alun Griffiths Ltd, were recognised for overcoming the obstacle of lengthening the original railway bridge, which was originally too short to span the dual carriageway beneath.
The lengthening of the bridge, carried out by 180 engineers and finished in May last year, marks a crucial step in the council’s aim of fully dualling the A4440 Southern Link Road from Junction 7 of the M5 to the Powick Roundabout.
Coun Ken Pollock, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy and Infrastructure, said the award was testimony to the members of the project team who worked around the clock to ensure the extension project was a success.
The Southern Link Road, which acts as a bypass to the city centre and provides one of only two crossings over the River Severn in the city of Worcester, provides an important link between the M5 and Great Malvern, the wider Malvern Hills district, Herefordshire and Wales.
The council claims that, with more than 30,000 cars using the road every weekday, dualling the road will help ease congestion.
