The project was in a highly sensitive location due to the A217 being a busy arterial road linking the M25 and the town of Reigate, and involved the reinforcement of the retaining wall structure to the east of the A217.
The masonry sections of the wall were supplemented with a reinforced concrete ground beam installed within the existing footway / verge, whilst the concrete central section was strengthened with a reinforced concrete capping beam connecting the column tops together, allowing distribution of impact forces throughout the structure. This required breaking out the tops of each column and casting a capping beam spanning across them.
The vehicle restraint system was an N1 containment parapet, with the connection points for the posts cast into the capping beam and ground beam.
The nature of the work involved the closure of the southbound carriageway and the overtaking lane of the northbound carriageway for safety reasons and to allow sufficient working space. We were responsible for traffic management and installed a 17-mile diversion for southbound traffic – this was highly sensitive given the importance of the road to local commuters, so maintaining programme was essential.
The project was completed two days ahead of schedule and we worked collaboratively with the Client to take advantage of the lane closure to plane and resurface a 485m length of the carriageway, obviating the need for a future lane closure. This additional scope included the replacement of road studs at 5m intervals and application of white lining.
