HS2 bridge project progresses with beam installation

The construction of a bridge allowing high-speed trains to pass beneath a major road has taken a step forward.

Using a 750-tonne (750,000kg) crane, engineers installed the last of seven steel beams for the 66m (216.5ft) structure at the A43 near Brackley, Northamptonshire as part of HS2.

The work began in 2023 when HS2 engineers realigned the road to create an island between the two carriageways big enough for the construction of a bridge deck.

HS2 Ltd's senior project manager, Elizabeth Longinotti, said: "With the beams now in place, we can focus on the next part of this complex multi-stage project – pouring the concrete deck ready for the road to be moved onto the new bridge early next year."

The A43, which connects Brackley, Northampton, and Oxford, was reopened after three weekend closures.

National Highways route manager, Bill Freeman, said: "We have worked hard to keep disruption to a minimum and taken advantage of the closures to carry out drainage and slope repairs on the A43."

Significant progress has also been made on the Turweston viaduct near Brackley, with its 80m-long (262ft) deck beam now fully in place.

Stephen Adkins, a fifth generation farmer at Greatworth Hall, whose land was compulsory purchased, is opposed to the project.

Mr Adkins said previously: "What [HS2] has left us with is not only 180 acres gone straight through the middle of our farm, but the bits that are left the other side [of the route] are triangular and odd shaped."

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