Spaghetti Junction - Birmingham

Gravelly Hill Interchange, better known by its nickname Spaghetti Junction is located at junction 6 where...

The removal of existing waterproofing system (17,643m²)

• Application of PmB spray applied waterproofing membrane and Aggregated Key Coat (17,643m²)

• Installation of BP1 Buried expansion joints (635 lm)

• Installation of FEBA HM Asphaltic plug joints (40 lm)

• Installation of Britflex BEJ/5 Expansion joint systems (140 lm)

The M6 main line motorway runs directly through the middle of the junction, carrying on average 200,000 vehicles a day; it was therefore critical to reduce disruption to an absolute minimum.

The project was split into three individual schemes and completed over an 18 month period.  Scheme 1 (slip roads CA/EA) and Scheme 2 (slip roads CB/EB) were programme to commence from Jan 2015 under lane closures to reduce impact on the travelling public.  Scheme 3 (slip road DC10 - DC16) was agreed after various consultations with local authorities and Highways England to complete works over three continuous weekend full road closures from Friday night 2000 hours through to Monday Morning 0600 hours. 

To meet the client's stringent programme, USL Structural Protection were required to resource Scheme 3 works 24 hours a day, utilising Multi crews to complete the works.  This included providing resource for removing the existing waterproofing system and the preparation of the deck prior to the application of our Pitchmastic PmB two part spray applied Polyurethane waterproofing system and Aggregated Key Coat.

Image above shows USL Structural Protection's operatives preparing the bridge deck prior to the application of PmB.

Road closures commenced at 2000 hours Friday night with removal of surfacing to an area of 1600m², USL Structural Protection would undertake the removal of existing waterproofing system from 03:00 hours utilising four deck preparation crews, handing back the deck to the client at 09:00 hours to allow for concrete Testing/Survey to be undertaken.  Captive blasting of the deck would then commence midnight Saturday to 7am Sunday morning.

USL Structural Protection had an 8 hour working window to complete the application of 1600m² of our PmB spray applied waterproofing membrane and Aggregated Key coat to enhance bond of the new surfacing to the waterproofing system.  This output was achieved by utilising 4 crews, applying our PmB waterproofing and additional four crews applying the aggregated key coat. Once these operations were complete the deck was handed back to client to allow the commencement of surfacing. All works were complete in the early hours Monday morning several hours ahead of programme. 

Installation of our Britflex BEJ/5 expansion joint system was completed during night time lane closures over 5 nights utilising 4 crews.

In total we applied 17,643m² of our PmB polyurethane spay applied waterproofing membrane and 17,643m² of our Aggregated Key Coat to 6 number decks.  The key coat was applied in lieu of the sand asphalt protection layer over the PmB waterproofing membrane to give a greater shear bond between the asphalt and waterproofing system.

Image above shows multiple crews working on the bridge deck

USL Structural Protection were able to offer multiple crews to complete the works over short working windows, but with the added advantage of being manufacture and installer of our products we were able to offer the client a one stop shop solution.

 Image above shows USL's operatives spraying the bridge deck with PmB

For more information please contact  +44 (0)191 416 1530  or email info@uslsp.com