THE construction of the dual carriageway on the A30, between Temple and Higher Carblake, has reached a major milestone, with a series of bridge lifts taking place.

Three bridges at Preeze Cross, Temple Tor and Cardinham are due to be installed over the main carriageway during a series of overnight road closures over the next month.

With the steel beams each ranging in weight between 50 and 70 tonnes, a specialist Liebherr crawler crane had to be constructed at the site to lift them into place, and is capable of carrying up to 350 tonnes.

Jamie Bee, project manager for Kier, said: “Anyone travelling along this stretch of the A30 will have seen the progress we have made on constructing the bridges at Preeze Cross and Temple Tor over the two weeks.

“This is a significant operation involving around 40 people, and a key milestone for the dual carriageway project.”

Each bridge takes approximately two weeks to install, with the crawler crane taking on the heavy beam lifting work, and smaller cranes lifting the deck slabs and precast concrete parapets.

Steve Wood, projects team leader for Cornwall Council, said: “Many people and a lot of heavy machinery is required to carry out this specialist task and, while we apologise for any inconvenience caused, we hope motorists can appreciate why these overnight closures are necessary.

“The bridges will connect with new junctions being created from the new dual carriageway, and we anticipate they will be open to the public by January 2017.”

Highways England project engineer, Nick Reed, said: “We have been working closely with Cornwall Council during both the development and the ongoing construction of the scheme. We are continuing to work in partnership during the series of bridge lifts, to ensure there is as little disruption as possible to the travelling public.

“As work progresses, we are liaising with all of our partners to ensure drivers are given as much advice as possible about journey planning and the best times to travel.”

The overnight closures have been scheduled to avoid weekend and commuter traffic, and are in place from 8pm until 6am between Sunday evenings and Friday mornings on the following dates — from 8pm on Sunday, July 3, to 6am on Friday, July 8; 8pm on Sunday, July 10, to 6am on Friday July 15, and 8pm on Sunday, July 17, to 6am on Friday, July 22.

During this time, motorists will be diverted along the A39 and A395.

For more information on the scheme, visit www.kier-a30cornwall.co.uk