United Kingdom – The M5 Oldbury Viaduct is a major artery in the West Midlands. At 3.2 km long, it accomodates over 120,000 vehicles per day. After years of exposure to de-icing salts, the structure had experienced deterioration and needed major repairs.
To preserve and extend the service life of the structure, a major renewal scheme was developed. It included hydro-demolition, concrete repair, expansion joint replacement, cathodic protection and waterproofing. Two types of cathodic protection were employed. The substructure was protected with impressed current cathodic protection, and galvanic anodes were used on the deck and joint repairs. After the concrete repairs were completed, a waterproof membrane was applied and overlaid with asphalt. The project was dubbed the largest concrete repair scheme ever completed in the UK.
Considerable challenges and meticulous planning
- Gaining enough survey information and historical data to develop the most appropriate strategy.
- Bringing together some of the best and most knowledgeable experts in the industry.
- Making sure that best value engineer was adopted.
- Managing public expectations and opinion in a sensitive manner.
- Understanding the knock-on effect of the project to other parties, such as HS2, Network Rail, managers of the ‘Birmingham Box’.
- Liaising with private individuals and businesses situated beside or under the motorway.
- Managing access, managing load transfer, and controlling water from hydro-demolition.
- Keeping the motorway open almost 24/7 while doing the work.
- Coordinating multiple suppliers and contractors to support the site.
Completing the work safely took hundreds of hours of manpower. These and many other tasks made it an incredible undertaking and worthy of an award.
The International Concrete Repair Institute recognized the project as one of the Finalists for Project of the Year for 2020 in the Repair of Transportation.
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