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New landmark Leeds viaduct to be named after city engineer
A landmark viaduct that completes the final section of the city’s inner ring road will be officially named after great Leeds-born engineer John Smeaton.
The John Smeaton Viaduct forms an important piece of the city’s £50 million inner ring road jigsaw and will finally link entire road to the new interchange at junction 4 of the M621
motorway, improving travel times across the city and relieve congestion in Holbeck, Hunslet and the southern rim of the city centre.
Work on the inner ring road scheme started in May 2006 and is expected to open for motorists in October 2008.
The 500 metre viaduct is an impressive feat of modern engineering, which Leeds City Council has recognised by naming it after the renown civil engineer, John Smeaton.
Councillor Andrew Carter, executive member responsible for Development and Regeneration, said: "The viaduct is an integral piece of the inner-ring road which will allow free flowing traffic across
the city and help ease congestion in the city centre and surrounding areas.
“It is an extremely impressive structure, involving substantial engineering works and so it seems wholly appropriate to be named after one of engineering’s most revered professionals,
who was of course born in Leeds.”
The structure made up of steel beams, weighing over 2,200 tonnes and up to 120 feet long and six feet deep, stretches over the existing road network from the River Aire to Jack Lane.
The beams have been made using a special type of weathering steel which will never have to be painted. They are made up of a composition that may look a rusty orange colour at first but over a
period of time the steel will become a more muted brown colour.
It is the first time that such a form of construction has been used in an urban environment and will reflect the industrial heritage of Hunslet. The weathering steel will also bring long term
environmental and economic benefits to the city.
The scheme has been designed by a partnership involving Leeds City Council, Mouchel and Carillion plc.
COMMENTS
Jozef Goj http://www.ubtsc.com.au
Commented 11 weeks ago
Building more roads is not the answer.
The roads infrastructure that has been around for 140 years, since the first traffic light, is designed to stop and slow traffic.
There is no solution to this problem as when the roads are loaded with traffic they like a chain that is as strong as its weakest link work to the speed of the slowest intersection. There is a solution and that is to construct intersections that allow all drivers to enter and exit without stopping.
With variable speeds on main arterial roads and Liquid Flow Traffic Intersections traffic jams, gridlock and congestion cannot happen.
These intersections at www.ubtsc.com.au when placed into the road mosaic will allow all motorists to cross town in peak traffic, faster, safer, without stopping at a single intersection while reducing fuel costs and pollution.
You just have to build them.
But none of this will happen without the help of people who want to give the country a roads infrastructure that works.
Today's road system" is broke and it needs fixing" but not with outdated road intersections up to 140 years old that stop and slow traffic flow and adding extra lanes that just makes the mobile car park bigger.
To fix the problem needs investment and if that's the kind of investment it will take, that's the kind of investment that must be made.
Then you can build a traffic system that finally and completely eliminates all jams gridlock and congestion.
Explore the benefits to all with a roads infrastructure that cannot fail and gives all vehicles the opportunity to cross town in peak traffic without ever stopping at a single intersection.
What saving would the economy get from this infrastructure?
How quickly would you get home if you didn't have to stop?
How much money would you save?
How would productivity improve and would that need more people employed?
Just a few questions that deserve answers
Jozef Goj
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