Successful completion of M53 safety barriers upgrade

15th Jan 2025

Outstanding work from the team on the M53 south of Ellesmere Port and the M53/M56 Stoak interchange.

Kilkern has been working with COLAS and Winvic Construction Ltd on National Highways‘ £7m project to replace large sections of ageing steel safety barriers on the M53 motorway in Cheshire between junctions 9 and 11.

In a little over four weeks, Kilkern’s highways specialists planed out the road surface in front of the central reservation’s kerb line; removed the existing kerbing and drainage kerbs; broke out and removed the exiting central reservation hard standing; and conducted a deck scrape and removed the existing waterproofing.

Once completed, the team managed the waterproofing and fine milling to the concrete surfaces.

New kerblines and drainage kerbs were then installed before drilling for and fixing reinforcement steels. Pull tests were conducted to confirm anchor force. Concrete was poured and brush-finished and the road surface was reinstated in tarmac to the new kerblines.

Posts for the Vehicle Restraint System (VRS) were installed to Series 400 Road Restraint System specification.

Operations Manager Craig Winter believes the project has been an excellent example of Kilkern’s team drawing on its extensive highways civilengineering expertise and experience.

“Although a relatively small element of the overall programme, this was none-the-less an important project which will improve road safety and we were pleased to be collaborating with Winvic to deliver a first-class result to time and budget,” he said.

“Working on busy roads like the M53 will always bring operational challenges and it is a testament to the team that they have delivered an excellent outcome.”