Media centre

Wednesday 22 Jul 2020

Changes to weekend road closures for essential St Helens railway bridge upgrade

Region & Route:

North West & Central

| North West & Central: North West

Motorists are being advised about changes to road closures for an essential upgrade to a railway bridge which crosses a dual carriageway in St Helens.

Work is now underway to refurbish the bridge spanning Rainford Bypass (A570), as part of the Great North Rail Project.

The upgrade will make the bridge safe and reliable for road users below and rail passengers above for decades to come.

After listening to local people in Rainford village during the first weekend road closure, Network Rail has worked with St Helens Council to move the planned full road closure from this Saturday to the following weekend.

This will give residents and road users more notice.

The five remaining full road closures between 5pm on Saturday to on 6am on Monday will take place on the following weekends:

• Saturday 1 August to Monday 3 August
• Saturday 5 September to Monday 7 September
• Saturday 12 September to Monday 14 September
• Saturday 17 October to Monday 19 October
• Saturday 24 October to Monday 26 October 

To safely complete the work, lane closures will be in place on Rainford Road between Mossborough Island and Lodge Lane/Bushy Lane from 5pm on Saturday 18 July until Monday 26 October 2020.

During the weekend closures, a road diversion will be in place and will be clearly signposted. Access for pedestrians and cyclists will remain open throughout the project's duration.

Nathaly Oshodin, scheme project manager for Network Rail, said: “We are grateful to residents for their patience while we deliver £2m of improvement work at Rainford bypass to ensure the safety of motorists and rail passengers for decades to come.

“This is complex work and we have worked closely with St Helens council to avoid a full road closure throughout the entire duration of the work.  

“Local communities are important to us. This is why we’ve written to more than 3,000 households and we are committed to working closely with the council to monitor traffic levels and listen to local people while traffic diversions are in place.”

Work to refurbish the bridge will take place during a combination of day and night-time shifts.

Network Rail has written to local people and is working closely with St Helens Council to minimise the disruption to all road users and residents.