Contractors Praised For Broadway 'Breakthrough'

The long-running reconstruction of Belfast's Westlink has reached a major milestone with the Broadway underpass to be ready for traffic earlier than expected as a result.

Northern Ireland Roads Minister Conor Murphy has congratulated M1/M2 Westlink Contractors Highway Management Construction (HMC) for reaching a significant milestone with the 'breakthrough' of the Broadway underpass in west Belfast.

This means HMC are ahead of their timetable and there are plans to allow traffic through the new facility months earlier than planned.

"I continue to be impressed by the work ethic and professionalism of all who are associated with the project,” the Minister said.

"The preparation and planning to build a road of this magnitude while accommodating the travelling public has been excellent. I would like to congratulate HMC for this latest milestone which is ahead of schedule."

Six weeks after excavation began beneath the arterial junction, workers finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel when they broke through the final stretches of rubble.

It took 9,000 man hours for 70,000 tons of material to be removed to clear the way for what will become a new passage for vehicles under the roundabout.

Over the next six months, this stretch of the road will be completed and first traffic will be allowed through it in late summer, earlier than expected.

The project which started in February 2006 is now in its 100th week and the overall completion for all of the works is scheduled for November 2009.

HMC is a joint venture of local contractors; John Graham (Dromore) Limited and Farrans Construction along with German contractor Bilfinger Berger.

HMC Project Director, Leo Martin, said: "This has been a difficult milestone to achieve and we are all delighted to have reached this stage.

"Broadway roundabout was particularly challenging as it required the diversion of both the Blackstaff and Clowney Rivers as well as moving electricity pylons and numerous other services before the piling works to the underpass could be completed," Mr Martin said.

The method of construction involved a technique known as "top-down construction", which was necessary due to the constraints of maintaining traffic flow across Broadway between the M1 and the Westlink. In this process the roof slab was constructed first and then the excavation completed beneath it. This method significantly reduced the interface with the travelling public.

(JM)(BMcC)