Anyone who has driven on the Worcester ring road between the Ketch and Whittington roundabouts must have noticed that another bridge has been built a few metres west of the existing railway bridge.

It’s all part of efforts to turn the stretch of the road into a dual carriageway. At the moment that can’t happen because the existing bridge is too narrow it only spans two lanes of traffic.

But some may wonder how the second bridge, constructed in parallel, will help.

From 8pm on Thursday May 24 the road will be closed. The railway will also be closed from Saturday, May 26. 

The railway lines south of the bridge will be removed, and the earth embankments supporting them will be dug away. A huge space will be made for the new section of bridge.

That will then be loaded to huge rolling platforms and simply slotted into place in line with the existing bridge and railways line. Beds, sleepers and tracks will then be replaced.

The plan will then be to construct a road under the new section of bridge, so that each section spans a two lane highway. Eastbound traffic will travel under the ‘old’ bridge and westbound traffic under its new partner.

Councillor Ken Pollock, Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet member for economy and infrastructure said: “This is part of duelling the whole of the southern ring road, from the M5 to Powick roundabout, and I think this is the most exciting part of it.

“We’ve been working towards this for years since we were given the slot for closing the railway by Network Rail some years ago.”

The new bridges are part of a £35 million project to dual Crookbarrow Way. Head of highways at County Hall, John Fraser said: "That's the cost of upgrading the whole stretch of road, widening the bridge and building the new section of road. We also have to build a bridge for the bridleway which will run next to the railway bridge.

"The next phase will be to build the new bridge over the river and dual the road to Powick. That'll be £65m."

Rail services should resume in the early hours of May 31. The road will reopen at 6am on Friday June 1.

Details of the closures and of two diversion routes, one for larger vehicles, are available from the county council's website at www.worcestershire.gov.uk/southernlinkroad.