New Semington Aqueduct () carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the carriageway of the

A350 road The A350 is a north–south primary route in southern England, that runs from the M4 motorway in Wiltshire to Poole in Dorset. Route Starting at junction 17 of the M4 motorway north of Chippenham, Wiltshire, Chippenham, the first three miles ar ...

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southeas ...

Bypass, at

Semington Semington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is about south of Melksham and about northeast of Trowbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Little Marsh and Littleton.

in west

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Although the construction of new canals is no longer common practice in England, new aqueducts such as this are sometimes built in relation to new roads or road widening schemes.

Details

The new aqueduct was built under the provisions of The Wiltshire County Council (Semington Aqueduct) Scheme 2000, later confirmed on 17 July 2002, as Statutory Instrument No. 1868. It was part of a road-building scheme to provide a bypass for the villages of Semington, to the west of the new structure, and Berryfield to the north of the canal, ending on the southern edge of

Melksham Melksham () is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, the Melksham built-up area had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire's fifth-largest settlement aft ...

. In order to provide the necessary headroom of , the road was built in a cutting at this point. The new structure is on the line of the original canal. In order to allow it to be built without closing the canal for the duration of the project, the canal was temporarily diverted to the south of its existing route, from the head of Semington Top Lock to a point to the east. Since the towpath is on the north bank of the canal at this point, temporary foot bridges were built over the canal, so that the towpath could follow the diversion, and avoid the work site. The road was planned as a dual carriageway, with the structure resting on piers at both ends protected by wing walls and a pier built on the central reservation protected by safety barriers, but only one carriageway was built and there is no central pier. The area where the second carriageway would have been is grassed. The aqueduct has two channels, separated by an central spine. Each of the channels is wide by deep, providing a navigable width of , since rubberised fenders are fitted to both sides to protect the concrete structure from abrasion by boats. There is another wall at the edge of the channel, and the towpath on the north side is separated from it by a environment corridor. A similar arrangement has been provided on the south side, for maintenance purposes. The concrete structure incorporates 529 tonnes of steel reinforcement, and the cost of the bypass scheme was £12 million. The aqueduct was opened on 3 March 2004 by Fleur de Rhé-Philipe, representing Wiltshire County Council. The structure was designed by

Ove Arup and Partners Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

, and built by the civil engineering contractor

Alfred McAlpine Alfred McAlpine plc was a British construction firm headquartered in Hooton, Cheshire. It was a major road builder, and constructed over 10% of Britain's motorways, including the M6 Toll (as part of the CAMBBA consortium). It was listed on the ...

References

{{Kennet and Avon Canal Kennet and Avon Canal Bridges completed in 2004 Navigable aqueducts in England

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See also

References