Balfour Beatty has completed the £105m upgrade of the last remaining single carriageway section of the A11, between Barton Mills in Suffolk and Thetford in Norfolk, dualling nearly 15km (more than nine miles) of carriageway on behalf of the Highways Agency.
Main construction on the project started in January 2013 and the completed dual carriageway was officially opened today by the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin MP, at a ceremony attended by local stakeholders.
The scheme involved the widening of the strategic route linking Suffolk with Norfolk to dual two-lane standard along its length and included the construction of a 5.8km bypass to the north of Elveden village in Suffolk. It has also involved the construction of six major new bridge structures, forming either underpasses or overbridges.
A total of 330,000 tonnes of earth were moved during the project, which also involved laying around 140,000 tonnes of asphalt, lifting 1500 tonnes of bridge steel work and pouring 4000 cubic tonnes of concrete. Over 32km of drainage pipes and 50,000m3 of earth were replaced with gravel to take water away from the carriageway.
The scheme achieved 20% savings over its original projected cost as a result of nearly £20m of value engineered savings by Balfour Beatty, including the avoidance of national grid and gas infrastructure diversions and the retention of more of the original A11 than originally anticipated.
Balfour Beatty is committed to supporting local communities on its projects and over fifty local people were employed on the scheme, as well as dozens of local businesses through Balfour Beatty’s supply chain.
Graham Dalton, Highways Agency Chief Executive, said: “The work to dual the A11 has been an enormous task and the project team, including our contractor Balfour Beatty, has worked tirelessly to complete a high quality dual carriageway between Norwich, London and the Midlands. The new dual carriageway will benefit road users and local people by improving road safety and reducing journey times by removing the bottlenecks that have caused congestion.”
Stephen Tarr, Balfour Beatty Managing Director for Major Projects, said: “The A11 Dualling project has been a fantastic example of close collaborative working with our customer, the Highways Agency, and key stakeholders such as Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils. The project has already won plaudits for its sustainable and considerate delivery and for the benefits the scheme will bring to the local community and road users.”
Some landscaping work will continue in the New Year and is due to be completed by the end of March 2015.