Windle Cattle Creep

Windle Farm Cattle Creep is a reinforced concrete box culvert measuring 1.5m x 2.1m x 36m which passes underneath the A580 East Lancashire Road near St Helens. The structure is dated from 1940 and was originally used to allow cattle to pass safely beneath the road. However, the structure’s poor condition meant it remained disused for many years with extensive defects to the load-bearing elements, creating a maintenance burden for the Council.

St Helens Council contracted Bethell to infill the culvert with lightweight concrete to ensure the ongoing safety of road users and remove the maintenance burden on the council. Bethell was required to carry out the works with minimum disruption to traffic and within published timescales.

The scope of works for this project included:

The initial design required foam concrete to be poured into the culvert via a series of holes cut through the roof in both verges and the central reserve area. Bethell identified this would result in prolonged closures of lane 2 in both directions whilst excavation, concrete placement and reinstatement works took place.  

To save programme time for the client and mitigate the need for road closures, Bethell offered an alternative using grout distribution pipes and air release tubes secured to the soffit of the culvert, allowing the foam concrete infill material to be poured from the verge access point only whilst ensuring full distribution within the culvert. The works still required the closure of Lane 1 in both directions, requiring Bethell to ensure the installation and removal of traffic management within advertised weekend closure dates.

Bethell worked closely with the client to refine the programme by understanding time constraints and the sensitivity of the A580 road network to disruption. Throughout the scheme, Bethell closely monitored the programme and ensured that all advertised dates for traffic management installations, changeovers and final removal were met.

To retain a passageway for small mammals, Bethell installed a 300mm-diameter fauna pipe within the culvert backfill. Finally, Bethell backfilled the culvert headwalls with fill material and overlayed with topsoil to blend into the adjacent embankments.

Investing back into the community, Bethell employed two groundworkers who were local to the St Helens area.