In August, a team of 50 people based near Balsall Common in the West Midlands celebrated the final installations on the self-contained Kenilworth Road ‘box’ bridge structure, following an 18-month build process.

This involved successfully installing 12 parapets, which will act as safety barriers when traffic eventually passes over the bridge. The colossal structure is 185 metres in length, 19.5 metres in width and 13.9 metres in height – constructed using 7,200 cubic metres of concrete and 1,800 tonnes of steel.

Join our expert engineers behind the scenes to get a detailed look at how the bridge was built, and the work involved.

With the structure now complete, work is underway on the embankments and landscaping the surrounding area on both sides of the bridge, as part of the A452 realignment. The team will reuse 80,000 cubic metres of material excavated from a nearby HS2 cutting made below ground level in Berkswell, Coventry. The backfill process will ensure the structure is enclosed ahead of the road being moved over the new bridge in early 2025, creating space for the railway to pass underneath.

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0:00 Introduction
0:12 What’s been achieved?
0:20 Why was the structure built?
0:39 Excavations and base slab pours
0:56 The abutment walls and wing walls
1:14 Creating the bridge deck
1:41 Installing the parapets
2:02 The road realignment works
2:23 Final thoughts
2:43 Outro

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If you have a question about HS2 or our works, please contact our HS2 Helpdesk team on 08081 434 434 or email [email protected].