North Baddesley Footbridge, Hampshire

Installation of a new enclosed bridge carrying a 3.0m wide public footway and cycleway over the Romsey to Eastleigh railway line.

The site is located at Baddesley Bridge an existing “road over rail” bridge immediately north of the Southampton conurbation in Chandlers Ford. The scheme centred on the installation of a new enclosed bridge carrying a 3.0m wide public footway and cycleway over the Romsey to Eastleigh railway line. New approaches to the footbridge were also constructed to the north and south sides. 

The footbridge was “Design and Build” with the superstructure of the bridge procured on a design, manufacture and delivered basis. Specialist bridge builders, Nusteel, we employed to carry out this feature of the project which was fully co-ordinated by the Mildren management team. Design technical approval was obtained from HCC prior to consultation with Network Rail to determine the special conditions for the proposed bridge installation. Method statements together with appropriate Design and Check certification was approved by Network Rail before their granting an overnight line possession. The bridge, comprising a steel Warren truss frame with solid infill panels, was successfully installed with the utilisation of a 250 tonne mobile telescopic crane. Abutments for the bridge were cast reinforced concrete supported by bored piles located outside the Network Rail boundary. Wing walls incorporated quetta bond brick fascias to match the exiting brick arch structure. 

Other works which were necessary to accommodate the new footbridge included a re-profiled earth embankment, a bored piled retaining wall and various highway and statutory utility improvements. Environmental considerations weighed significantly in the choice of construction methods and plant type. The site was located adjacent to residential properties and two caravan parks. The land directly to the north east of the footbridge is the Flexford Nature Reserve which is managed by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. 

We are delighted to see this much needed and long-awaited highway improvement coming into fruition. It will much improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists. It was a complicated engineering task and it was just as difficult to get the
funding in place, as well as negotiate between the various public authorities,
Network Rail and Hampshire Wildlife Trust

www.romseyadvertiser.co.uk
2 North Baddesley Footbridge,

North Baddesley Footbridge, Hampshire

North Baddesley, Southampton, UK