New £35m dual carriageway for Sunderland underway with Pallion site excavation

Sunderland City Council is in the process of delivering a new £35m dual carriageway to the city.

Over 60,000 tonnes of earth, rock and concrete materials have been excavated for the new route.

The road, which aims to improve community connections, is part of a £1.5bn public and private sector investment projects that Sunderland City Council has planned for the next five years.

This is the third phase of the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor (SSTC 3), beginning at the southern end of the Northern Spire (SSTC 2).

The dual carriageway’s route is through Pallion, then underneath the Queen Alexandra Bridge, into Deptford and onto the city centre and St Mary’s Boulevard (SSTC 1).

An artist’s impression of the new dual carriageway in Sunderland.

Councillor Amy Wilson, the council’s cabinet member for environment and transport and a ward member for Pallion, has just toured the site.

Amy said: “There’s a lot going on with all these ground and excavation works. It’s already amazing to see these big excavations that are many feet deep and hundreds of feet long.

“I’m very pleased to see so much of what has been excavated is being recycled and processed into new construction materials. There is an amazing amount of work going on behind the scenes for this investment in our city.”

Its design takes into account the land’s former use, its geology and gradients. It includes the construction of 1.2 miles (two kms) of retaining walls and structures that will be nearly 40 ft - or 12 metres - high.

The scheme is worth £35m and is being delivered for Sunderland City Council by local civil engineering specialists Esh Civils, the civil engineering division of Esh Construction.

In coming weeks, as the excavations are complete, a series of piling works should begin for the foundations of the new retaining wall being built into the bankside of Pallion New Road.

Taken on location at the Pallion site.

Andrew Georgeson, operations director of Esh Civils, added: “The site team have reached a milestone in segregating and processing large quantities of buried structures and buildings which can now be reused as engineering fill for the project.

“We have a strong sustainable model for delivering this major project. All the processing work reinforces this approach by reducing our environmental impact and increasing our local specialist supply chain to assist in our success.”

Closer to the city centre, traffic management is said to be in place along Trimdon Street, and at Hylton Roundabout. This aims to allow works to progress for service diversions as well as the alignment of the proposed carriageway.

It will take up to 27 months to complete the phase 3 works with a target opening of autumn 2021.

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