People travelling along Queens Road near to Nottingham Railway Station on a regular basis will have noticed in the last few weeks the first major visible signs of the construction of the phase two extensions of Nottingham Express Transit with the first of three interlinking bridges which take the line over the Station now starting to take shape.
The first half of the bridge is currently being built on top of some temporary towers at a height that will eventually allow it to be pushed over Queens Road into its final position. It will be 104 metres long and 14.5 metres wide and is a steel truss bridge. Next month the first half of the bridge will be moved 45 metres over Queens Road so that the second part of the bridge can be constructed and connected to it. Once this is completed the entire bridge will be pushed again in its final position over the Station.
Once the Nottingham Station bridge is in position attention will be turned later this year to installing the other two bridges which are needed for this section of the Phase Two extensions. These will cross Station Street and Queens Road and are due to be completed this year. With these all in position the final works to Nottingham Station Bridge will be completed at the start of 2014 and this will include laying a concrete base and constructing the tram tracks and tram stop.
Cllr Jane Urquhart, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport at Nottingham City Council, said: “It’s wonderful to see such an impressive structure taking shape which will radically improve how people can interchange between tram and train services and other public and private transport. Local people and businesses are already benefiting from employment opportunities on both tram and station projects, with almost 600 people working locally to construct the tram extension and to transform the Railway Station.”