M1-A1 Link Road
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Newsam Green Bridge
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Background
3 Construction, Structures
4 Dolphin Lane Footbridge
5 Lofthouse Interchange
6 Lofthouse Interchange
7 Thorpe Lower Lane Bridges
8 Sharpe Lane, Aire Valley
9 Newsam Green, Drainage
This structure carries an accommodation track and bridleway over the M1 between junctions 45 and 46. It comprises two steel trusses with steel cross girders and an in-situ concrete deck supported on mechanical bearings on reinforced earth abutments.
The structure is unusual considering the type of road it is carrying due to the ground conditions in the area. Prior to construction of the M1, the land in the vicinity was used for opencast coal mining and afterwards was filled in. As such, large settlements have been experienced in this area, and the structure had to be designed to accommodate differential settlement of up to 1m. The structure was erected at ground level to reduce the cost of temporary works during erection. It was erected onto its bearing using an 800 tonne crane on 07 September 1998.
The Gottwald 800t crane used to lift the structure from the ground into its final position.
Newsam Green Bridge, the completed structure. Photograph taken 4 December 1998.
Drainage
Drainage of the carriageway was split into a number of sections with outfalls into existing watercourses. A majority of the carriageway was drained using a 1.5m concrete V channel cast next to the carriageway edge with chambers at approximately 100m centres. The channel was cast using a concrete slipform paver with a special mould. All drainage runs flowed into petrol/oil interceptors to skim off oil mixed with surface water running off the carriageway, before being discharged into a watercourse. To prevent flooding to the local rivers and streams, balancing ponds were constructed to store runoff arising from large storms and the discharge rate was controlled.
At the end of one drainage run, the water was discharged into The River Aire. Here the pipework had to pass underneath the Leeds/Sheffield railway line and the Aire and Calder Navigation. To achieve this with minimal disruption to the railway and the canal, two pipejacks were carried out, one under each obstacle. For these, shafts were excavated each side of the obstacle and concrete pipes were jacked from one shaft to the other. At the head of the excavation, a miner would break out the rock and use sleds to transport it back to the shaft.
Slipform paving machine used to cast the 1.5m V shaped concrete channel. Photograph taken on 3 December 1998.
Another view of the above in action.
Shaft constructed as part of the inverted siphon under the Aire and Calder Navigation. Photograph taken 17 September 1998.
Pipejack operation under the Leeds to Sheffield Railway Line. The photograph shows the concrete pipe segments used and the hydraulic jacks. Photograph taken 25 September 1998.
References
- New Civil Engineer Roads Supplement, June 1997, pp 9-11.
- New Civil Engineer Concrete Engineering Supplement, November 1997, pp 24-26.
- M1/A1 Link Road - The Yorkshire Link, produced by Yorkshire Link, Spring 1999.
Adrian Shawcross, January 2004
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