Birmingham Northern Relief Road (BNRR), United Kingdom

The construction of the Birmingham Northern Relief Road (BNRR) started in spring of the year 2001. BNRR will be Britain's first ever toll road. The project has been commissioned by Midland Expressway Limited to CAMBBA Construction Group.

PROJECT RATIONALE

The Birmingham Northern Relief Road (BNRR) has two principal aims:

• To provide a free flowing alternative to the heavily congested M6 motorway between Laney Green (junction 11) and Coleshill (junction 4), one of Britain's busiest stretches of motorway.
• To provide a distributor to the north and east of the West Midlands region, improving communications to conurbation such as Cannock, Lichfield and Tamworth.

Congestion and traffic delays are common on the M6, and alternative routes for through traffic, the A5, A38, A446 and A452, are also congested. Where it passes through the West Midlands, the M6 motorway is a communication line of both national and local strategic importance. It is also one of the country's busiest roads, with some sections carrying 100% more traffic than they were ever designed to do. BNRR will provide a motorway link around the northern and eastern edge of the West Midlands conurbation offering an alternative to the busy M6.

The project has attracted an extensive debate on the environmental dangers of such a construction. To reduce the criticism and minimise the effects of its operation on the natural environment, CAMBBA Construction Group has decided to use environmentally-friendly routes, anti-noise road building material and also to plant approx. one million trees across the route.

BNRR PROJECT TIMESCALE

On 28th July 1997, the UK Government said it would proceed with the BNRR, "with regard to its strategic importance in the national transport infrastructure".

The design work commenced in October 2000 and the site works began during the spring of 2001. Completion is expected for the end of January 2004.

DUAL THREE LANE MOTORWAY

The BNRR will be a 27 mile dual three lane (plus hard shoulder), £485.5 million motorway. Built to UK National Motorway Standards, it will follow an established transport corridor defined by the existing A5/A38/A446 trunk roads.

CAMBBA will construct the new dual three lane motorway, widen the existing M42 motorway and improve the interchange between the M6 and M42. Seven new junctions will also be built, namely: A460 (Wolverhampton), A5/A34 (Cannock), A5 (Burntwood/Brownhills), A5/A5127 (Lichfield), A5/A38 (Tamworth), A38 (Sutton Coldfield) and the A446 (The Belfry).

An access road will also be built for a new motorway service area, which will be constructed separately.

The work includes construction of new bridges, bridge extensions and bridge widening. CAMBBA will also construct six toll stations, an operations management centre and three motorway maintenance areas.

Generally tolls will be payable on exit from the road, and users will pass a barrier only once, when they pay the toll.

CAMBBA CONSTRUCTION GROUP

The design and construction of the Birmingham Northern Relief Road has been awarded to CAMBBA Construction Group. Its client is the concession holder, Midland Expressway Limited. CAMBBA is a joint venture between company comprising Carillion, Alfred McAlpine, Balfour Beatty and AMECMidland Expressway Ltd. The company will operate the road when it is completed and is responsible for the tolling arrangements.

Midland Expressway Limited's (MEL) private sector concession for the Birmingham Northern Relief Road, involves the operation and maintenance of the road for a 50 year concession period.