A1 bridge repairs to start this week
Work to refurbish a bridge across the A1 near Morpeth, Northumberland, is due to begin later this week.
The Highways England renovations to the farm access bridge, north of Mitford, will begin on Thursday 1 October and will take 5 weeks to complete.
Work to the bridge will be carried out 24 hours a day, with some lane closures in place overnight when traffic levels are at their lowest.
Two overnight closures of the southbound and northbound carriageways will be required at the beginning of the work to install a safety system that will allow painting and resurfacing work to take place safely on the top of the bridge.
From Saturday 3 October, there will then be overnight lane closures between 8pm and 6am on the north and southbound carriageways under the bridge to for concrete repair work. A minimum of one lane will be kept open in both directions at all times overnight.
Michael Hoult, Project Manager at Highways England, said:
We’ll be closing the motorway overnight initially to install a system which will allow us to work on the bridge during the day while cars travel underneath, minimising disruption to drivers.
Concrete repairs to the bridge structure will take place overnight when it’s generally less busy and we will be keeping a minimum of one lane in each direction open at all times.
The A1 will be closed southbound between 8pm and 6am on Thursday 1 October between the Clifton junction with the A197 and the Morpeth North junction with the A192, while the northbound carriageway will be closed for the same period on Friday 2 October. Diversions will be in place through Morpeth, via the A197 and the A192.
Additional overnight closures to remove the safety system will be needed overnight (8pm to 6am) on Monday 3 November for southbound traffic and Tuesday 4 November for the northbound carriageway, using the same diversions.
Drivers who intend to travel on the A1 during the closures are being advised to check the latest traffic conditions before they set off.
General enquiries
Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.
Media enquiries
Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.