Repairs to crumbling M32 could cost £200m

Engineers will raise a motorway bridge in Bristol by half a centimetre as part of an extensive programme of repairs costing £200m.

Works are due to start in 2026 on refurbishing the Eastville Viaduct of the M32, replacing corroding bearings and fixing cracking concrete.

National Highways hope to keep two lanes open in each direction while the works take place, although drivers could face 30mph speed limits and narrower lanes.

Some slip roads at Junction 2 will also be closed temporarily, as they need refurbishing.

Corrosion can clearly be seen underneath the Eastville Viaduct – photo: National Highways

Noise barriers will also be installed along a long section of the motorway, benefiting many residents living in houses nearby, some just 10 metres away.

But these residents will also have to put up with incredibly noisy work such as blasting off the edges of the bridge.

Sean Walsh, route manager for National Highways, said: “Like any infrastructure, as you would with a car, they have a life expectancy and you need to go in and replace things. This structure is around 50 years old now and there are elements of it, some of which are moving, that are coming to that point where they need replacement.

“The working assumption is that we’ll keep the road open. Individual slip roads will close for extended periods and we’ve already started talking with our local authority partners to model and see what the likely impact is on local roads. There will be disruption but hopefully it won’t be what people initially imagine.”

A recent freedom of information request revealed the flyover, built half a century ago, needed extensive concrete repairs.

Sean Walsh, route manager, and Terry Robinson, engineering manager, from National Highways – photo: Alex Seabrook

In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Walsh said he wanted to take the opportunity to “renew rather than repair” the 1.16-km bridge.

On top of pillars holding up the bridge are 128 bearings, which enable the structure to move as the concrete expands and contracts with changing temperatures.

These are the original bearings installed when the viaduct was built in two phases, in 1970 and 1975. Engineers will replace all of these gradually, but need to raise the sections of the viaduct one at a time.

Terry Robinson, engineering manager at National Highways, said: “On hot days the bridge is bigger than it is on a cold day. So it has to move, and the bearings enable it to slide. But these bearings need to be replaced, as they wear out. For us to get them out, we’ve got to actually jack the bridge up.

“We might have to shut the road while we jack it up, but once it’s jacked up we lock the jacks off and we can run traffic over it. It’ll be an overnight project to jack the bridge up. We’ll continually leapfrog our way over the bridge.”

For the 63,000 vehicles who drive over the bridge on an average day, the speed limit might be reduced from 40mph down to 30mph.

Once the works are completed, it’s unclear if the speed limit would be raised above 40mph due to the benefits to air quality of driving slower.

It’s also unclear exactly how long the repairs will take, but they are due to start in either 2026 or 2027.

Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo: Mia Vines Booth

Read next:

• Repairs to M32 flyover could cost £22m
• Remembering the road severed in half by the M32
• Vauxhall Bridge set to be closed for repairs for up to two years

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