The Highway's Agency's ongoing project to widen the M1 between Junctions 25 and 28 in the East Midlands took another step forward yesterday when a farm bridge between Junctions 25 and 26 was successfully demolished.
The motorway was closed during the work which took place between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Highways Agency project manager Paul Tully said:
"We are delighted that the weekend's work to demolish the bridge went according to plan and was successfully completed before our deadline of 9am on Sunday. I would like to thank the travelling public for their patience during the closure. We can now start work to install a new, wider bridge at the same location".
The demolished 42-year-old reinforced concrete bridge, which was used to carry farm vehicles between Knowle Park Farm and a field on the opposite side of the motorway, was 43 metres long and weighed around 600 tonnes.
It was knocked down as it was not wide enough to get the extra motorway lane or the lengthened slip roads underneath, so will be replaced with a bridge with wider spans.
Over the following months new bridge supports will be put in place and a replacement deck lifted into position. This will require a further closure of the M1 between the same junctions at a later date. The new bridge will have two spans with a combined length of 67 metres.
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