VIDEO: 90ft crane gives M74 a huge lift

IT weighs 1200 tonnes and had to be delivered on the back of 45 articulated lorries.

IT weighs 1200 tonnes and had to be delivered on the back of 45 articulated lorries. It is the massive 90ft crane which has been drafted in to work on Glasgow's M74 extension project.

It is the largest mobile crane in Europe and travels all over the world tackling the toughest construction jobs.

Last year it was in action lifting the Harthill footbridge into place over the M8. The crane, dubbed rather functionally the 'Sarens Gottwald AK680-3', takes over a week to assemble on site.

The crane will be used to lift the 232m long bridge that will carry the M74 over the M8 into place.

The three-lane bridge will come in four sections which being built on site by contractors for the Interlink M74 consortium.

The crane's first job will be to lift the massive steel box girders into place, which will support the bridge.

The 14m wide bridge will link up three intermediate piers and abutment end supports which are already in place to the newly constructed slip roads.

In between these sections the crane will lift into place eight massive 200-tonne girders which will make up the three-lane bridge.

The AK680-3 has been brought in to do the job because it has one of the longest reaches of any crane at 90ft.

It's that massive reach and how far it can swing its payload that make it crucial to the job.

The crane will be manoeuvred by specialist operators John Watson and Mick Bates, from its hometown of Middlesbrough.

The pair have travelled the globe with the machine, which has been in demand from Argentina to Taiwan.

John said manoeuvring the 200-tonnes of road section is a nerve-wracking task.

He added: "Everybody takes great care. There's a lot going on, You're thinking about the lift and the weather conditions, there's a lot of planning that goes into something like this."

Bosses at Transport Scotland have decided that the crane will lift the beams into position overnight to minimise disruption to road users.

The M8 eastbound carriageway will be closed overnight this weekend on August 1 and 2.

The Evening Times will bring you the most up-to-date times for the road closures later this week as work continues in preparation to begin lifting the bridge this weekend.

Then the M8 westbound carriageway will be closed overnight the next weekend - August 8 and 9 - to allow the crucial work to go ahead.

The Eastbound Junction 21 of the M8 at Paisley Road remains closed until midnight on August 7 because of the M74 extension.


A massive structural steel beam is ready to be put into position by the mobile crane for the new M74 extension	Civil engineer Michael Boycott walks inside one of the structural steel beams which will support the road deck	Construction director Graham Porteous stands in front of the crane at the new M74 site near the Kingston Bridge	Work continues on the M74 extension with structural steel beams to be lifted into placed by the crane this week

During the temporary closure of Junction 21, traffic is being directed to leave the M8 eastbound secondary carriageway at Junction 21 Seaward Street, turn left to travel north on Seaward Street to the junction with Paisley Road and then turn right to travel east on Paisley Road to the end of the diversion at the junction with Paisley Road off ramp.

Graham Porteous, Transport Scotland's project director, said: "This work is vital for Glasgow and for Scotland. This will open up Glasgow's roads.

"At the moment you've got a three-lane motorway of the M8 getting blocked as it goes down to two lanes at Charing Cross.

"This will open up a new option for road users and ease the pressure on roads around Charing Cross.

"It's quite a complicated project because we've got to work around built-up areas, there's a lot of side streets to cross as well as the railway, but we're making progress and we are slightly ahead of schedule."

A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland added: "The M74 Completion project is already benefiting the Scottish economy by supporting around 900 construction jobs.

"When complete, this vital link for the West of Scotland will reduce congestion across the existing local and trunk road networks and also attract investment which will create new employment opportunities for the region."

The new five-mile stretch of road will continue the M74 motorway from Fullarton Road Junction, near Carmyle, to the M8 motorway west of the Kingston Bridge.

The project will improve journey times and reduce traffic congestion on roads across Glasgow and South Lanarkshire.

For more information and to keep up to date with road disruption, log on to
www.transportscotland.gov.uk/projects/m74-completion

TIMES FILE

The M74 project was originally announced by Scottish Ministers in September 2000.

Draft Road and Compulsory Purchase Orders were published in March 2003 and a Public Local Inquiry ran from December 2003 to March 2004.

The green pressure group Friends of the Earth lodged an appeal against the scheme in May 2005 but abandoned the appeal during an Appeal Court hearing in June 2006.

The Scottish Government finally gave the green light to the M74 extension project in February last year.

The tender for the project, put forward by the Interlink M74 Consortium which is doing the work, was a fixed price of £445m with a £12m allowance for possible treatment of mine workings along the route.