Vote now for Squibbers Way as the People’s Choice

The award-winning Squibbers Way in Bridgwater has been shortlisted for another prestigious accolade – and this time you can help pick the winner.

Squibbers Way was the name chosen by the people of Bridgwater for the Colley Lane Southern Access Road which opened in December last year with a spectacular squibbing display by Bridgwater Carnival.

The scheme won the Innovation Award in the 2020 South West Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation Awards and was highly commended in the Transportation Project of the Year category.

Now the project has been shortlisted in the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) South West Civil Engineering Awards 2020. This recognises construction projects which have demonstrated physical achievement, innovation and ingenuity.

All 12 shortlisted schemes are automatically entered into the People’s Choice Award – where the public can vote for the civil engineering project which has had the greatest positive impact in their communities. The vote is now live on the ICE South West website so please vote for the Colley Lane Southern Access Road at https://www.ice.org.uk/about-ice/near-you/uk/south-west/awards/civil-engineering-awards.

Be sure to cast your vote before the poll closes on the 14^th of June. The winner is due to be announced in October.

A number of technical innovations were used in the project, including:

• The Somerset Bridge – at 52m the longest single span bridge in Somerset – was specifically designed without piers to minimise erosion and flood risk in the River Parrett.
• The design uses 9,000m³ of polystyrene instead of traditional aggregate along 300m of embankment to minimise loading on the flood plain between the river and canal.
• On-site recycling of materials, including cellophane waste and the by-products generated by the 1,000 piles required for this scheme, saved an estimated 2,000 lorry movements.
• Specialist machinery was used on site to segregate waste material which reduced the amount required to go to landfill by 97%.

You can stay up to date with Somerset County Council’s highways team by following @TravelSomerset on Twitter.

ENDS

For more information, please contact the Press Office on 01823 355020 or email pressoffice@somerset.gov.uk.