BRIDGES Ӏ SECTOR SNAPSHOT


SKIDDING BRIDGES FOR HS2 PROJECT


In the UK engineers have moved a 1,631 tonne steel bridge into place over a Birmingham ring road four days ahead of schedule as part of the HS2 project - Britain's new high-speed railway being built between London and the West Midlands.


The steel bridge structure is 112m long and weighs 1631 tonnes; placing it is a stage in building a one-mile stretch


of five connected viaducts bringing high- speed trains into Birmingham Curzon Street Station.


The operation was successfully


delivered by HS2’s main works contractor in the West Midlands, Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) and its bridge move contractor Mammoet. To minimise disruption the operation took place during night-time road


closures; it was moved between 18 and 24 metres every night, over four nights, using a special skidding system. Rather than building the bridge in situ, disruption to road users was reduced by constructing the steel span on land next to Digbeth Canal over the last two years. On 15 August 2025, heavy lifting engineering expert Mammoet rotated the bridge 90 degrees using two self- propelled modular transporters (SPMTs). Over the following four nights, a skidding system with a jacking push/ pull mechanism was used alongside the SPMTs to move the structure into place across the Lawley Middleway ring road. This combination of techniques is rarely used and was a first for BBV on the HS2 project.


Also on the HS2 project, at almost


the same time, engineers were sliding a 1,300-tonne viaduct deck into position near the Northamptonshire village of Thorpe Mandeville. The steel and concrete deck of the


Lower Thorpe viaduct – which stretches for 220m – was assembled to one side


30 CRANES TODAY


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