Balfour Beatty has announced that it will be reusing more than 80% of the approximately 1.2Mt (960,000 tons) of material that will be excavated for the North Hykeham relief road project in Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire County Council said around 250,000t of limestone excavated from the Lincoln Cliff area alone will be crushed and processed on site before being incorporated back into the new road, says Ground Engineering.
The North Hykeham relief road is an 8km (five-mile) dual carriageway project that will link the A46 Pennells Roundabout to the Lincoln Eastern Bypass and complete a full ring road around Greater Lincoln.
Earthworks have already begun, while a dedicated earthworks processing operation covering around 35,000m2 on the west side of Grantham Road has been established to recycle and reuse excavated material directly within the scheme.
Most excavation is currently taking place at the Lincoln Cliff, immediately west of Grantham Road and Station Road, where material is being removed ahead of construction of the new Station Road bridge.
The excavated limestone will be used to construct the large embankments between Station Road and the River Witham, and between the River Witham and South Hykeham Road. Once processed, the material will also form the structural foundation layers of the new road.
Sam Edwards, head of highways infrastructure for Lincolnshire County Council, said:
“Earthworks on a project of this scale generate enormous volumes of material, so making the best possible use of it has always been central to our construction strategy.
“Processing suitable material on site means we’re not paying to export it as waste and then paying again to import replacement aggregates. Instead, we’re creating a valuable construction resource exactly where it’s needed.
“Combined with our dedicated haul road, this operation allows us to move material safely and efficiently around the site while removing more than 150,000 construction vehicle movements from the local road network over the course of the project.”
(Picture: Lincolnshire County Council)
