Woodbank Park Park Bridge & Shared Cycle/Bridleway

This project was part of the Council’s Town Centre Access Plan (TCAP), a £73m project aimed to improve transport links in and round Stockport town centre for motorists, cyclist and pedestrians. Woodbank park lies approximately 1km east of the town centre and is bordered by the River Goyt. The new bridge and cycleway are designed to improve east/west connectivity making the park more accessible with the town centre. 

The scheme comprised of two major elements, the foundation and enabling works for installing a 70 tonne x 42m span bowstring bridge and the construction of 1.5km of new 3.0m wide shared cycleway/bridleway. The scheme required close liaison with National Grid as the bridge location was close to Bredbury Substation, the main electricity source for Stockport town centre and, as well as arranging for the temporary switch-off of overhead cables, a temporary bridging structure was required over 132KV underground electric cables to enable construction loads to safely pass over.

New reinforced concrete abutments were cast on each side of the River Goyt within temporary cofferdams and rip-rap boulders placed within the river to offer scour protection. The craneage enabling works involved the installation of over 500m of aluminium temporary trackway to enable the crane and bridge transporter wagons to get close enough to the new foundations. The bridge arrived in three sections for final on-site assembly before lifting into place with a 700t crane. Once installed, an insitu lightweight aggregate bridge deck was installed on GRP deck panels. 

Summary of the works included: