Project Summary
This project involved the construction of 1.1km of new road and a 3-span bridge over the Camowen River in the outskirts of Omagh, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland.
Project Description
This project involved the construction of 1.1km of new road and a 3-span bridge over the Camowen River in the outskirts of Omagh, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland. The works included 1.5 km of new road drainage, 3 km of telecoms cable ducting, 1.1km of new 180mmØ water main, 36 public lighting columns, movement of 50,000m3 of material and construction of road formation and surfacing. Tie-ins to the existing road network consisted of a roundabout at the western end and a T-junction with bellmouth at the eastern end.
Project Delivery
The bridge structure was 89 metres long and consisted of precast concrete beams on in-situ reinforced concrete piers and abutments, supported on a reinforced concrete shell and augur piles. We had a design responsibility for the bridge foundation piles, bridge beams, bearings, parapet and vehicle restraint system. Much of the ground for the road construction was peat. 24,000m3 of site-won material was re-used as fill, but 26,000m3 of peat had to be dug out and replaced with fill.
The key areas for traffic management were the two tie-in points. A road crossing for our construction traffic, particularly for earthworks movements, was manned throughout the contract.
Extensive liaison took place with the Fisheries and Rivers agencies regarding the prevention of rainwater run-off and other pollutants entering the Camowen River. Method statements for pollution control were produced and agreed with these agencies and run-off was monitored throughout the works. Our method statements reflected the new bridge’s location adjacent to a listed railway bridge structure.
The original contract period for the project was 15 months, however, we saw advantages in not working through the 2013/14 winter, and we completed the work 5 months in advance of the contractual completion date.
