The beams for the new Blackbrook Bridge have been lifted into place as part of Somerset County Council’s upgrade of Junction 25 of the M5 in Taunton.
The bridge will provide a new arm onto the Junction 25 roundabout, which the council says will help ease congestion by increasing capacity and improving traffic flow. 
There are two types of concrete beams which make up the bridge deck. There are four edge beams which weigh 17.2 tonnes each and 31 internal beams, which weigh 13.1 tonnes each.
The next element of construction will be the bridge deck. This will be a reinforced concrete slab over the top of the beams which will contain around 80 tonnes of reinforcement steel and 230m3 (approximately 550 tonnes) of concrete, and will take around two months to construct
Surfacing work has now been completed on the inbound lanes of the Toneway. Principal contractor Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd has now moved to the final phase of works on the Toneway, which will see the reconstruction of the central reserve.
The central kerbs are being installed and the vehicle restraint system will follow.
Surfacing work has also been completed at the new entrance to the park and ride. This route will be open to the public in the very near future.
For more information about the M5 J25 improvement scheme, log-on to the dedicated Junction 25 webpage at www.travelsomerset.co.uk/j25.
Join Somerset Chamber of Commerce to give your business a stronger voice both locally, regionally and nationally. Combined with local town chambers, we represent over 2,000 businesses across Somerset with a direct line to policy-makers at all levels.
