National Highways announces M27 weekend closures for bridge work

The first phase of work on the two bridges on the M27, between Junction 12 and the Hilsea Interchange, is nearing its final stages.

Now, the traffic company is preparing to work on top of the structures, which will involve weekend closures of the M27 at Junction 12 through September and October.

The westbound M27 will be closed at the Portsbridge roundabout from 9pm on Friday, September 5, to 6am on Monday, September 8. This will be followed by a second closure from 9pm on Friday, September 26, to 6am on Monday, September 29.

Meanwhile, the eastbound M27 will be closed at Junction 12 from 9pm on Friday, October 10, to 6am on Monday, October 13. It will be closed again the following weekend, from 9pm on Friday, October 17, to 6am on Monday, October 20.

This will be followed by a series of overnight closures to cut in the new bridge joints. Further closures have been planned in case of bad weather.

Emma Weston, project manager at National Highways, said: “Our workforce has made great progress and ensured that everything has gone to plan – often under arduous conditions, during the recent heatwave. 

Queuing traffic (Image: NQ)

“The next phase of work will involve removing the surfacing and age-expired waterproofing on the top of the bridges and upgrading the existing surface drainage. We’ve got an additional challenge to remove the asbestos from the waterproofing. It will be safely removed and disposed of by specialist contractors before the new waterproofing layer is applied and new surfacing laid.”

Emma added: “We understand the frustration our work may have. The weekend closures have been carefully planned to avoid the Portsmouth Football Club home and away games, as we know these would be busier weekends.”

The bridges, known locally as the IBM bridges, were constructed in 1975 and are suffering from deterioration of the concrete underneath due to water ingress from drainage and age-expired waterproofing and joints on the top.

Over the last few months, National Highways have carried out concrete repairs to the underside of the bridges, as well as installing protection to slow the corrosion of the steel.

Due to the size of these concrete repairs, for some of the repair locations, one lane has had to be closed on both bridges until the concrete gained sufficient strength before it was reopened to traffic.

More information about road closures can be found on the National Highways website, alongside updates.