Bridge beams for the Bean and Ebbsfleet bridge on the A2 in Kent have been installed following a delay caused by beam manufacturer Cleveland Bridge going into administration.
The scheduled closure of the A2 at the beginning of August was postponed due to the challenges faced by Cleveland Bridge, with the company calling in administrators in July and making 53 employees redundant earlier this month.
The bridge beams were manufactured by Cleveland Bridge in Darlington before being transported to Kent for installation.
They will now be installed east of the existing Bean Lane bridge.
To carry out this work safely, the A2 will be closed to allow a crane spanning the carriageway to lift the new beams into place.
As such, a small section of the A2 carriageway and the existing bridge at Bean Lane was closed from 10pm on Friday 20 August to 6am today.
The A2 Bean and Ebbsfleet junction improvements will improve journey times, increase capacity and support economic development.
At the Bean junction the roundabout to the north of the A2 will be made significantly bigger, and controlled by traffic lights. The roundabout to the south of the A2 will also be made bigger while generally keeping the existing layout.
The new bridge over the A2 will provide extra capacity. The existing Bean Lane bridge will then be used for northbound traffic, and a new slip road constructed onto the A2 for eastbound traffic.
For Ebbsfleet junction the proposals will broadly follow the existing road layout with enlarged roundabouts controlled by traffic lights. The road between the roundabouts will be widened to a dual carriageway. The slip roads from the A2 will be retained and the slip roads to the A2 widened.
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