As the main walking season gets underway we have been down to the River Eden in Carlisle to see how the new relief road is progressing.

Thousands of people travel through this part of the city, just beyond the Sheepmount area, on route to or from nearby Bowness on Solway.

Although access through the works site has been protected, it is worth adding a few extra minutes to your plans.

We would also advise you take a little bit of extra care as you pass through the work site.

Once complete, the new bridge will link the west of the city to the north for vehicles, walkers and bikes.

You can see pictures of the area in the gallery at the bottom of this page.

Bridge works near Grinsdale/ Stainton

The  new 156m two-span, steel and concrete bridge over the River Eden, near Stainton has now been installed.

It was lowered into place last November by the country’s biggest crane.

It will be painted to blend into the surrounding environment, – so not bright pink then!

Built near the line of Hadrian’s Wall, it is at a point where the area had previously been disturbed. Permission was obtained from the The Department of Culture, Media and Sport before works could commence.

Excavations in the area of land on the floodplain of the River Eden revealed an extensive  surface scatter of cultural artifacts and debris, consisting of stone tools and chipped stone debris.

This was found next to a sequence of channels also containing worked wood.

The location of the site was highly problematic for the builders, as access to the river was required early in the construction programme to allow the building of the bridge.

Further archaeological works were undertaken to record and process the site and any finds.

CNDR – background.

The Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR) will be a single-carriageway bypass just over five miles (8.25 km) long.

It starts from Wigton Road (A595) south west of Carlisle and goes to the west of the city, crossing the River Eden near Stainton and the West Coast Main Line at Kingmoor.

It will pass through Kingmoor Park in the north of the city to join the M6 at Junction 44.

As with many projects of this scale the name of it changes throughout construction. Some people call it the CNDR, others the western bypass or even the northern relief road. Lets hope over time it is not called a white elephant or a death trap.

The whole project is estimated to cost around £176m.

Gallery

[slidepress gallery=’northern-relief-road-carlisle’]