M62 closure latest as huge 350 tonne railway bridge moved into place

The M62 will be shut near Rochdale all weekend as the final stage of a huge project is completed.

The motorway will remain closed in both directions until Monday morning as a £22m scheme to replace a railway bridge is finalised. The bridge near Castleton, which brought trains over the motorway, has already been demolished and removed during a previous full weekend closure two weeks ago.

Now workers will now finish installing the the new bridge. On Saturday, Network Rail said that the new 350 tonne bridge has now been moved into place, and that work to fully install it continues.

READ MORE: Incredible pictures of M62 show the ongoing work which has closed the motorway

Until 6am on Monday, the eastbound carriageway of the motorway is closed from junction 18 at Simister Island interchange, up to junction 20 at Rochdale. The westbound carriageway is closed between junction 19 at Heywood and junction 20 at Rochdale.

Motorists coming off the eastbound carriageway at Simister Island are being told to travel to junction 21 of the M60 at Chadderton, before turning onto Broadway, the northbound A663, and then northbound onto the A627M to re-join the M62 at junction 20.

Drivers diverted off the westbound M62 at junction 20 should join the southbound A627(M) and then use the westbound A664 and northbound A6046 to re-join the M62 at junction 19.

Olivia Boland, Network Rail sponsor, explained details of the project to the M.E.N. previously. She said: “The main construction will be complete by September 25 this year. It is very common for us to use Saturday nights for our works when the trains are not running, so there will be some follow ups to finish the welding and stressing on the track.

“The railway will open with a small speed restriction on it (50mph) and then after five to six weeks when the railway works are done it will reopen to line speed of 75mph.

“This is a sped up project given the fact the bridge isn’t in the best condition and is deteriorating. We used specialist designers with lots of experience - getting good heads together.

“It’s quite difficult to say (how much longer the current bridge would last), you can’t put a timeline on it but we have been instructed to replace it within two years. That doesn’t mean it will fall down catastrophically, but that it is just recommended to be replaced.

“We (Network Rail) replace bridges all the time but this size and scale, over the motorway, is something we don’t do that often, especially in the north west. It is quite a novelty for us to do - it’s probably one of the first in the north west for us to replace a motorway bridge.”