The contractor has also completed the installation of 175 beams forming the roof of a second major bridge three miles away, bringing four weekends of intensive motorway works to an end.
The latest operation involved a 75-strong team installing two 45m-long spans at Water Orton, completing all six viaduct crossings over the motorway.
Each span was assembled from 18 precast concrete segments manufactured at BBV’s Kingsbury batching plant. The sections were then transported into position using self-propelled modular transporters before being joined with internal tensioning cables.
Meanwhile, a separate 150-strong team installed the final 44 beams on the 300m-long M42 twin box near the NEC.
A 300-tonne crawler crane lifted the 23m-long beams, each weighing up to 92 tonnes, into position to complete the structure’s 9,800-tonne roof.
The twin box now stands 10m high and is supported by two 145m-long walls and 46 internal columns.
Both operations were completed during a weekend motorway closure, with the M42 reopening at around 4am on Monday, an hour ahead of schedule.
BBV project director Oliver Shore said: “This was a huge engineering challenge and I’m so proud of the way our teams have responded.”
The two Water Orton viaducts form part of HS2’s triangular delta junction, linking Birmingham with the main line heading north.
BBV will now extend Water Orton 2 by another 40m to close the final gap over Gilson Road.
The M42 will close again from 23 to 26 October to allow the contractor to install parapets above the motorway.
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