Medway Viaducts
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Medway Viaducts are three bridges or viaducts that cross the
River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
between Cuxton and
Borstal A borstal is a type of youth detention centre. Such a detention centre is more commonly known as a borstal school in India, where they remain in use today. Until the late 20th century, borstals were present in the United Kingdom, several mem ...
in north
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. The two road bridges carry the M2 motorway carriageways. The other viaduct carries the
High Speed 1 High Speed 1 (HS1), officially the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of the line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Euro ...
railway line linking London and the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
. All three bridges pass over the Medway Valley Line (to
Paddock Wood Paddock Wood is a town and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England, about southwest of Maidstone. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 8,263, falling marginally to 8,253 at the 2011 Census. Paddock Wood is a centre ...
). The first Medway Viaduct, built to carry the M2 motorway, opened on 29 May 1963. It remained the only overcrossing of the river on this site until the 2000s, at which point two further bridges were constructed. The second Medway Viaduct was part of the M2 widening scheme, its opening in 2003 enabled the first bridge to be reconfigured to carry coast-bound road traffic only, while the new structure carried the London-bound traffic instead. Other remedial works to the older first bridge were also carried out around this time, including the replacement of its original concrete central span with a steel-braced equivalent. The third Medway Viaduct was completed in 2002, enabling the High Speed 1 railway line to traverse the river. Its design was somewhat unusual, using V-shaped reinforced concrete piers to support its bridge deck, which was prefabricated in segments and launched into position using
hydraulic ram A hydraulic ram pump, ram pump, or hydram is a cyclic pump, cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It takes in water at one "hydraulic head" (pressure) and flow rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic head and lower flow rate. The device ...
s from the abutments; this deck is a
cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...
structure. In 2003, a new British rail speed record was achieved by a specially formed
Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...
train which crossed the viaduct at . It has also won awards for its novel civil engineering practices.


Original motorway viaduct

Opened on 29 May 1963, by
Ernest Marples Alfred Ernest Marples, Baron Marples, (9 December 1907 – 6 July 1978) was a British Conservative politician who served as Postmaster General (1957–1959) and Minister of Transport (1959–1964). As Postmaster General, he oversaw the intro ...
, the Minister of Transport, the first Medway crossing formed a key element of the new M2 motorway. Built at a cost of £2.5 million, invitations to tender for the bridge's construction were sought in 1959. It consists of three main spans. The largest over the
River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
spans 500 ft, and the other two are 313 ft each. There are seventeen smaller spans of 100 to 135 ft. The construction was carried by a joint venture of
Christiani & Nielsen Christiani & Nielsen was a construction contractor with major operations worldwide. It still trades in Thailand. History Christiani & Nielsen was established by Rudolf Christiani, a Danish civil engineer, and Aage Nielsen, a captain in the Roya ...
and
Kier Group Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...
. As originally built, the first bridge carried a six-lane (two London-bound, two coast-bound, two hard shoulder) formation. In addition, a footpath was present along either side of the road lanes that doubled as a small service road for maintenance personnel and pedestrians alike. These footpaths formed part of the
North Downs Way The North Downs Way National Trail is a long-distance path in South East England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham in Surrey to Dover in Kent, past Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, through the Surrey Hills National Lan ...
, which offered panoramic views of the Medway Valley and beyond. Central crash barriers were not originally fitted, but were subsequently retrofitted for safety reasons. During the widening of the M2 from two lanes to four, which was undertaken in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the original bridge was subject to extensive refurbishment and strengthening measures. The original central span, which was made from concrete beams, was replaced with steel girders. The concrete beams were broken up on-site using high pressure water-cutting equipment prior to disposal. Various safety improvements were also implemented across the original bridge, including new steel crash barriers, in late 2006. On 29 May 2013, the M2 celebrated its 50th anniversary. During the summer of 2019, eleven closures of the bridge over the course of three months were necessitated while work to repair multiple bridge joints across the structure was underway.


Second motorway viaduct

Completed during 2003, the second motorway bridge is the newest of the three crossings that traverse the River Medway at this point. It was built as part of the M2 widening project, the structure being located south of the original bridge. Its construction benefited from work to build the adjacent High Speed One railway, such as the reuse of spoil from the North Downs Tunnel to build up the new London-bound road embarkment leading to the bridge. As a result of the new motorway viaduct's completion, the formation of the M2 motorway crossing was changed; the layout of the original bridge being reordered into three coast-bound lanes, along with a hard shoulder, while both footpaths were reduced in size, including the permanent closure of the south facing footpath, leaving only one path available for pedestrians.


Railway viaduct

The western bridge carries
High Speed 1 High Speed 1 (HS1), officially the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of the line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Euro ...
(HS1), the
high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...
link that connects London with the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
. The rail viaduct is a long structure that spans the
River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
, Wouldham Road and Burham Roads in
Borstal A borstal is a type of youth detention centre. Such a detention centre is more commonly known as a borstal school in India, where they remain in use today. Until the late 20th century, borstals were present in the United Kingdom, several mem ...
. It is a multi-span structure, with typical approach spans of , while the central navigation span had a length of . On account of the central span having been designed with a balanced
cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...
approach, this necessitated the use of certain techniques in its construction, which included the launching of the side spans in an incremental fashion from both the east and west abutments using a series of
hydraulic ram A hydraulic ram pump, ram pump, or hydram is a cyclic pump, cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It takes in water at one "hydraulic head" (pressure) and flow rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic head and lower flow rate. The device ...
s. To withstand this, the bridge deck sections were fabricated using bonded prestressing construction; when positioned correctly, these sections cantilever together, aided by external prestressing for its continuity. The substructure consists of reinforced concrete pier columns that are supported upon bored piles. One distinct feature of the columns is that they are in a "V" shape, which provide greater lateral support and stability, particularly in the event of two high-speed trains deploying their emergency brakes at high speeds while traversing the structure. The structure was designed with several unique features so it could properly accommodate rail movements, including articulation and numerous movement joints. It was also designed to give a broadly similar appearance to the existing viaducts where they run parallel to one another, which includes matching spans and profiles. In 2003, it was awarded the Concrete Society’s Civil Engineering Category award for "outstanding merit in the use of concrete". A plaque marking this achievement has been attached to one of the upright support legs on the Strood side of the viaduct. The rail viaduct has been described as being a leading piece of civil engineering for the new line, and has become a prominent symbol of it. On 30 July 2003, a specially formed
Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...
train crossed the viaduct and in to the Nashenden Valley at , an occurrence that established a new speed record on the British railway network. In advance of the tenth anniversary of this record-breaking run, a plaque was placed at a nearby vantage point overlooking the railway viaduct.


References


Citations


Bibliography

* Collis, Hugh
"Transport, Engineering and Architecture."
Gulf Professional Publishing, 2003. .


External links


CBRD — Opening Booklets M2 Medway Viaduct (PDF)


{{Coord, 51.37580, 0.47550, display=title, format=dms High Speed 1 Eurostar Motorway bridges in England Transport in Medway Bridges completed in 1963 Bridges completed in 2002 Bridges completed in 2003 Viaducts in England 1963 establishments in England Railway viaducts in Kent Concrete bridges in England Bridges in Kent