Streethay Overbridge

The design of the railway at Streethay was changed to a cutting during the Parliamentary stages, to reduce the visual impact of HS2 in the area. The construction of three bridges will enable the HS2 line to pass under the A38 in a retained cutting. We constructed and installed Streethay Overbridge (South Staffordshire Railway) in 2023. The construction of the A38 Southbound Slip Overbridge is nearing completion prior to the commencement of the A38 Rykneld Street Overbridge.

Overbridge design

In June 2022, we announced that HS2’s designers have reduced the length of wall structures for the railway at Streethay from 1.6 km (1 mile) to 420 metres, meaning 80% less concrete will be needed, supporting HS2’s ambition to cut carbon on the project.

This will save around 70,000 cubic metres of concrete, the equivalent to 6,700 concrete mixer lorry loads. In total, around 420,000 tonnes of carbon has been saved in this area of the project.

The railway will pass through Streethay in a cutting, and the shortening of the retaining structures also means the community will experience less noise and disruption during construction because fewer large machines will be needed on site.

Most of the Streethay cutting will now have sloping earth banks, improving the visual appearance of the railway and increasing the opportunity for wildlife habitats and landscape planting to protect against noise from the railway. The updated design also results in a shorter diversion of Fulfen Wood watercourse.

Once these bridges are complete, they will enable the construction of Streethay Cutting for which we will need to excavate and transport approximately 750,000m of earth. This is equivalent to approximately 300 Olympic swimming pools. The earth will be used to form embankments along the line, close to Streethay, in Curborough and Kings Bromley.