A38 Roundabout
A38 Roundabout
by: Andy P.
Something moderately different.
It was deemed to be a good idea to make the piled side of the new canal between the 2 bridges look nicer. Therefore, the 30 or more pile tops had to be hand dug out to 100mm depth so that they could be filled with concrete. Shuttering was made and fitted and new mooring bollards were installed at the correct distance, as each pile was slowly filled.
Several crews over several weeks continued to dig, mix, and wheel barrow, pour, tamp down, move shuttering until at long last, we reached the end.
It was not realised by the project team how much material was going to be needed. Something close to 4500kg of concrete was used.
Then began the task to cut the green grid material and fix it on top of the concrete and around the bollards. This involved drilling lots of holes and using specialist fixings to hold the grid in place. A few more weeks passed by.
Finally it was finished. Well apart from digging out and relaying a proper tow path. Oh and a method to stop boats hitting the green decking!
Some of the smiley faces involved
You have to use a bit of imagination for the next pictures. Below is what will become the basin. The small orange dots in the distance are the team of archaeologists who have spent many weeks digging and scraping around (a technical term). We were given a very interesting tour to look at the roman buildings they had discovered. It has all been mapped and archived for future reference.
The first part of the new canal that goes under the bridge is ready and waiting
