The opening of the Grantham Southern Relief Road (GSRR) in Lincolnshire has been pushed to late 2027 at the earliest as issues relating to installation of a new bridge on the project are dragging on.

Lincolnshire County Council’s GSRR is a new 3.5km road between the A52 and the A1 being intended to reduce congestion and provide growth opportunities. It is being delivered in three phases, with the first two having been completed in 2016 and 20222 respectively. The third phase, designed by WSP and being delivered by Galliford Try, was expected to complete this year but has hit a significant issue with a new bridge that will cross the East Coast Main Line and the River Witham.

Overview of Grantham Southern Relief Road (phase 3 in pink)

In February this year, the council revealed that the project had encountered issues relating to the installation of the 293m long, 2,500t span. The devised method for pushing it into place over the railway and river was found to be unusable due to “concerns relating to specific wind conditions”, according to then Lincolnshire County Council executive member for highways Richard Davies. This was expected to delay the road opening into 2026 and push the cost of the project up by £10-20M.

In an update from the middle of August, new Lincolnshire County Council executive member for highways Michael Cheyne said that a new temporary guiding structure for the bridge was set to arrive imminently and would be attached to the front of the bridge “over the coming months”.

However, a council spokesperson has now confirmed to NCE that the guiding structure has not yet arrived and is instead expected in October. Additionally, its cost is “not yet agreed”, according to the council spokesperson.

The guiding structure is a tubular steel truss that will be attached to the front of the bridge deck to aid in its movement into place. This movement can start “once all of the project’s suppliers can agree the finer details of the launch system”, Cheyne said in August.

The council spokesperson told NCE that once the guiding structure is attached, the “current estimate” is that the operation of moving the bridge into place is expected to take “six months, subject to weather and other unforeseen circumstances”.

The method for moving the bridge into place was found to be unusable do to concerns relating to wind conditions

In his August update, Cheyne said: “I can say with confidence that, once the bridge push does start, it will be approximately two years until the road can open. Please rest assured that I’ll be doing everything in my power to ensure this project doesn’t slip any further.”

With an absolute best-case scenario being that the bridge push commences in October – which would require the guiding structure to be attached to the bridge within weeks, rather than months – this means that the opening of the GCRR will be late 2027 at the earliest.

Explaining why it will require a further two years to complete the project, the council spokesperson told NCE: “There is still work to do once the relief road’s bridge is in situ, including building the rest of the bridge structure east side of site which will involve lifting new steel beams into place. Following that, the bridge decks will need to be concreted, safety barriers installed, road surfacing laid, and embankment works carried out on the western lead up to the bridge.”

When the bridge delay was first revealed earlier this year, Lincolnshire County Council said it was pursuing contractual and legal processes for compensation for the errors and time lost on the project.

It has now doubled down on this, confirming: “The county council is still in the process of pursuing contractual and legal processes with a view to holding those responsible for the design error to account and recovering taxpayer money.”

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