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Tuesday 28 Jan 2025

Job done in Hackney: roads reopened and bridge replacement complete

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

Network Rail has finished delivering a replacement bridge that carries the junction of Downs Park Road and Bodney Road over the railway.

The old bridge was 150-years-old and in very poor condition so it needed replacing to keep passengers and road users safe, and to avoid major short-notice disruption in future. As planned, Downs Park Road reopened just before Christmas, and Bodney Road reopened to pedestrians and cyclists on Friday 24 January.

During the summer, the railway had to be closed for 16 days to allow intensive works to take place on the bridge, affecting London Overground Weaver line, Greater Anglia and Stansted Express services. Engineers needed this time to demolish the old bridge and start building the new structure.

Since the railway reopened, lots of complex work has been completed to finish the project and get the roads reopened, including:

• pouring, curing and waterproofing the new concrete bridge deck
• reinstalling the utility connections over the bridge, including electric, water and telecoms
• resurfacing the road, applying the road markings and putting the pavement back

Network Rail carried out the work with its contractor, Murphy.

Simon Milburn, Network Rail Anglia’s infrastructure director, said: “Thank you so much to passengers and the local community for bearing with us while we got this job done on time. Thousands of people travel under and over this bridge every day by rail and road, and our project was vital to keeping their future journeys safe and reliable. The new bridge is expected to last for more than a century.”

Video telling the story of the bridge replacement project - filmed shortly before the reopening (available for download):