Skip to main content

ICE pledges support for Mersey Gateway Project

The Mersey Gateway Project in Liverpool, UK, has been endorsed by the UK’s most senior civil engineer, Nick Baveystock, director general of the Institution of Civil Engineers, on a trip to the area see the location of the new bridge and learn more about plans for the project. The centrepiece of the Mersey Gateway Project is a new six-lane toll bridge over the River Mersey. The existing Silver Jubilee Bridge will also be tolled as part of the project, which is expected to help create thousands of new jobs
September 24, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The Mersey Gateway Project in Liverpool, UK, has been endorsed by the UK’s most senior civil engineer, Nick Baveystock, director general of the Institution of Civil Engineers, on a trip to the area see the location of the new bridge and learn more about plans for the project.

The centrepiece of the Mersey Gateway Project is a new six-lane toll bridge over the River Mersey. The existing Silver Jubilee Bridge will also be tolled as part of the project, which is expected to help create thousands of new jobs, secure inward investment to the area and deliver important regeneration benefits.

Halton Borough Council, which is promoting the project, has announced the appointment of the Merseylink consortium as the preferred bidder on the project. The two parties are expected to sign a formal contract by the end of the year, with construction work starting shortly afterwards and the new bridge scheduled to open in 2017.

Baveystock said: “This visit has given me the opportunity to engage with the project team on this major infrastructure development and discuss how we can mutually support one another in promoting civil engineering. I’m impressed with the vision that the team here at Halton Borough Council has shown to bring this project to a reality.”

Project director Steve Nicholson said: “We’re delighted to get this endorsement from the ICE. We’ve worked closely with bodies like the ICE over a number of years to get to this stage and it is exciting to think now that Mersey Gateway can be a demonstration project for other civil engineers, not just here in the UK but around the world.”

Rob Polhill, Leader of Halton Borough Council, said: “ICE North West has been an advocate of the Mersey Gateway scheme from the beginning, particularly in recognising the social and economic benefits it will bring to the region. Its support has certainly added weight to the already compelling arguments for a second River Mersey crossing”.

Related Content

  • October 24, 2016
    Mersey Gateway tests free flow tolling
    Tolling specialist Emovis, which is to install and manage the toll system for the Mersey Gateway in the UK, is to test the technology on the Bridgewater Expressway prior to installation on the new bridge. The Mersey Gateway, a new six lane toll bridge over the Mersey between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes, is due to open in autumn 2017. The testing will be an important part of the preparation for the new free-flow tolling system, which will allow drivers to travel over the new bridge and the Silver J
  • January 24, 2025
    New IBTTA boss defends DEI initiatives: 'I firmly believe our values don’t change'
    Kathryn Clay insists: 'It's not a political costume you put on when it’s convenient'
  • December 4, 2014
    Global navigation reference point to test zero emission driverless vehicles
    A successful consortium led by the UK’s Transport research Laboratory (TRL) has been selected by Innovate UK to deliver the GATEway project (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment), one of three projects awarded to test driverless vehicles in UK urban locations. The US$12.5 million project will see three trials of different types of zero emission automated vehicles within an innovative, technology-agnostic testing environment set in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The ‘prime meridian’ was establi
  • February 19, 2024
    Don’t look at the jigsaw pieces – see the whole puzzle, says CCTA
    There are three main barriers to taking transport ideas from the pilot stage to real-life usage: incompatible technology, local control and limited funding. Tim Haile of California’s Contra Costa Transportation Authority has some thoughts on how to overcome them