120 tonne bridge beam falls on road

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A massive concrete beam has fallen onto a road in Leeds after being lifted onto a low loader transport trailer that toppled over.

The beam was being lifted at Balfour Beatty’s A64 flyover replacement project in the city centre the section of the bridge was due to be loaded and moved to another location to be broken up.

Leeds City Council said: “A concrete section of the demolished bridge was being lifted onto a specialist trailer to be disposed of and recycled away from site.

“It was safely placed onto the heavy load vehicle however there was failure of the trailer, causing the piece of bridge to shift from its resting position.

“There were no accidents or injuries as a consequence of the trailer system failing and work will continue to demolish the bridge over the coming days.”

The stricken section of bridge was broken up for safe removal and cleared from the site on Saturday.

Built in the late 1960s the Regent Street Flyover, which carries traffic over the Inner Ring Road, has reached the end of its usable life.

Balfour has already successfully completed the southern bridge section of Regent Street Flyover and the project team is now on the northern bridge which is being taken down and rebuilt.