Tamar Road Bridge Suspension System Remedial Work

The Tamar Road Bridge, opened in 1961, straddles the River Tamar and is part of the A38 Trunk Road between the principal towns of Plymouth in Devon and Saltash in Cornwall. Inspection of hidden critical elements (hanger and cable band bolts) in 2014 and associated laboratory testing in 2015 incidentally revealed some anomalies in bolt hardness values.

As a result some additional sample hardness testing was instructed and undertaken in Summer 2016 and this was further extended to full coverage hardness testing in Autumn 2016. The preliminary results of the full testing exercise have indicated that provision for a programme of selective bolt replacement is now required.

The nature of the proposed replacement works is of a relatively specialist nature and will involve works at height adjacent to live traffic and a waterway. The works are likely to be instructed for priority completion.

In view of the likely mobilisation period and winter working restrictions this is expected to mean a start on site in early Spring 2017. Accordingly, the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee, which has overall responsibility of the Bridge, has instructed has one of its joint Local Authority partners, Cornwall Council, to initially issue this Prior Information Notice to alert suitably experienced and qualified Principal Contractors to this upcoming Contract opportunity, ahead of a more detailed Contract Notice anticipated to be issued early in the New Year.

It should be noted that testing works and interpretation are still ongoing at the date of publication of this document and therefore the final scope of the works cannot yet be fully defined. As such, it is envisaged that the Tamar Bridge will develop and enhance the agreed specification and scope of works in collaboration with a likely maximum of three Contractors, to be selected to discuss possibilities and options through a formal Competitive Dialogue Procurement Process, to arrive at an optimum working solution of planned replacement for these key components of the Bridge structure over an agreed period of time.

Currently, the range of work may vary from the minimal replacements of bolts , i.e. up to approximately 20% out of a total of 1374 bolts, up to the full amount and this has been reflected in the estimated value of work stated within this Notice. The bolts are located across 120 Hanger locations spanning the full length of the Bridge and as such it is envisaged a programme of complete replacement may take between 12 and 18 months.

Additional information: If your organisation considers itself to have the specialist expertise, experience, resources and knowledge to be able to work in collaboration with the Bridge personnel and their support team, to achieve an optimum cost effective solution, then in order to register an initial interest in this work, at this stage, please ensure you have responded to this Notice electronically to the named Cornwall Council representative, as above, by 4th January, 2017, at the latest. This future opportunity is also being advertised via Official Journal of the European Union for the same duration.