Easing congestion at a known black spot

The level crossing at King’s Dyke on the Peterborough–Ely rail line is a pinch point for traffic and an accident black spot. “The current level crossing has been a bottleneck for a long time with slow-moving freight trains causing a minimum delay of 13 minutes and often much longer,” commented a local council representative. Residents and Cambridgeshire County Council agreed a solution and contracted Kier Construction, a UK-based construction and infrastructure company which provides specialist design and build services for a wide range of clients, including both public and private housebuilding, to undertake the massive operation. The proposed scheme is to build a road bridge that will cross the railway line and connect Peterborough and Whittlesey.

In addition to constructing the bridge, a roundabout, underpasses and accompanying roads, Kier outlined mitigation and ecological mini-projects. Owing to its professionalism and previous experience, RSK was hired to complete the mitigation projects. RSK’s dedicated habitat management team provides practical ecological contracting services for a diverse client base, applying the team’s extensive experience of delivering ecological mitigation measures and habitat creation projects to offer bespoke, pragmatic solutions to challenges. Using a specialist tracked unit with a fixed-tooth mulcher, the RSK Habitat Management team cleared more than 7000 m² of dense scrub and undergrowth, 1000 m² of hedgerows and almost 20 trees (500–1000 mm girth) including one enormous tree with a trunk more than 1000 mm in diameter.

“RSK was highly professional and efficient. The team took every opportunity to minimise on-site disturbance. I was very impressed with how they worked and would not hesitate to use them again in the future,” commented Robin How, Kier’s project manager. RSK completed its programme three days ahead of schedule, which reduced Kier’s supervision requirements and subsequent costs, and reduced the disturbance the site works caused to the on-site livery.