UK-based housing developer Countryside and charitable housing association L&Q have completed works on a new £14m ($17m) bridge linking Chelmsford’s new relief route with the realigned Boreham Interchange.

The newly constructed bridge comprises a 161m-long three-span superstructure of composite weathering steel fabricated girders.

The project is the final step of the developers’ overarching £35m infrastructure project to build a new relief road between the A12 (Junction 19) and A130 (Essex Regiment Way) in the area.

The added relief route, A131 Beaulieu Parkway, will replace Colchester Road and White Hart Lane and will serve as a vital route to Braintree, London Stansted Airport, and the M11 motorway.

It is set to subsequently reduce traffic congestion surrounding Springfield, a parish within Chelmsford.

This new relief road project has been funded and developed by Countryside and L&Q and will offer access to the to-be Beaulieu railway station.

The railway station project, Beaulieu Park Station, is expected to be completed towards the end of 2025.

Chelmsford's Conservative Member of Parliament Vicky Ford said: “A huge amount of complex work has gone into the construction of this bridge and will alleviate congestion in the north of Chelmsford. 

“It will also provide access to the new Beaulieu Park Station where construction is well underway and provide a link into the Chelmsford North-East Bypass.

“This has all been made possible thanks to the £250m housing infrastructure grant from the [UK] government, the largest such grant in the country.”

Between February and September last year, the bridge was built on-site temporarily before being moved and cantilevered over the Great Eastern railway line and the A12 northbound slip lane in September.

A month later, in October, it was transferred to its final location, where it was dropped into the permanent substructure spanning the Great Eastern railway line and the A12 northbound slip lane.