A45 South Bridge - Replacement

Solihull Council are bidding for funding from the Department of Transport for funding to replace the above bridge. A copy of our bid can be found on the right of this page under Attachments, some of the files are be 3MB in size.

The bridge in question is on the westbound A45 (Birmingham bound) over the West Coast Mainline, between M42 junction 6 and Church Lane, Bickenhill.

The brick bridge dates from about 1837 and is no longer ideal for modern day traffic in its current form. The bridge is narrow and has weak parapets and is used by around 30,000 vehicles a day as a link to the many businesses in and around the area. It is our intention to replace and widen the bridge and in doing so increase the separation between vehicles and the parapets as well as providing wider lanes. The scheme will improve safety and reduce congestion.

Because this will be a major scheme, it is necessary for us to ask the Department for Transport (DfT) for assistance in funding these works. If we are successful in obtaining the funding to deliver this major scheme, we expect to start design works in 2012, with works starting in 2014 / 2015.

Clearly, we wish to minimise the impact of the works on businesses and local people, however inevitably, there will be some disruption.

We will need to close emergency access from the A45 on to Church Lane – the alternative route would be via Catherine-de-Barnes Lane which is the current access for all other traffic.

It is also proposed to close the access into Wyckhams Close from the A45 - it is proposed that the access to Wyckhams Close would then be via a new link from Church Lane.

If you would like more information on this major project then please contact our Highway Services Manager, Derek Lawlor - e-mail: dlawlor@solihull.gov.uk

Department for Transport

The Department for Transport will also be allowing external parties to provide comments on the bids that they receive from promoters such as ourselves at Solihull Council.

The comment period will run from 9th  September to October 14th  and will be open to anyone who wishes to submit a relevant comment on the proposals. Where comments received are contrary to that supplied in the bid, or where they may have significant influence on our decision making process, they may seek further clarification from promoters such as ourselves at Solihull Council on these particular issues. A dedicated email address has been established for comments to Department for Transport 

development.pool@dft.gsi.gov.uk