M67 to reopen at 5am on Monday after bridge deck demolished

The M67 is set to reopen at 5am on Monday morning after work to remove the deck of St Anne’s Bridge in Denton over the weekend.

The mammoth three-year, £23m project is on target to be completed next year, when engineers will install a new bridge.  

Two steel beams weighing a combined 97 tonnes are already in place, carrying water, gas, electricity and telecommunications lines. 

“Preparations for the next phase of works have gone well,” said Mangat Bansal, the Programme Delivery Manager at National Highways, the government-owned company behind the scheme.  

“Following the installation of the beams, all utilities across the bridge have been connected to existing networks without disruption to customers, so we are now able to demolish the bridge deck. 

“It is imperative we keep the travelling public and our workforce safe. To achieve this, we need to close the motorway for the two weekends to allow for the heavy machinery needed to undertake this work to be brought in.” 

There will be another closure of the motorway between junction 1A at Denton and junction 3 at Hyde from Friday November 8 to Monday November 11.  

This will be to remove the bridge’s abutment walls, which took much of the structure’s weight at either end. 

“We always strive to minimise disruption to customers, although regretfully delays to journeys are expected over the weekends,” Mr Bansal continued. “We are advising everyone to plan before they travel and allow extra time to complete their journey. We apologise for any inconvenience this work will cause. 

“We would again like to thank the local community, including road users, for their support and patience while we continue our work to provide the new bridge.”