Work starts on 1.5km cycle path beside Lincoln Eastern Bypass

Founder & Managing Director of Minster Group, Bruce Spencer-Knott said:

“We’re proud to have been working on several elements of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass and we’re excited to begin construction on one of the longest sections of the pedestrian and cycle route alongside it.

“The Lincoln Eastern Bypass is an incredible project and it’s inspiring to be working on such an ambitious project for my home city. In all our work, we challenge ourselves to find better ways of working to deliver greater results, reduce emissions, increase recycling and reduce waste and we’re making use of some cutting edge machinery to carry out this project.

“As essential workers, we’ve been carrying out a wide range of projects during the lockdown and so we’re well-practised in ensuring social distancing, good hygiene and the use of PPE to protect our teams and the communities we serve. We’ll be taking every precaution as we carry out this project so we can make good progress despite the COVID-19 pandemic.”

One of the machines being used on the project is a 24 tonne Vӧgele MT 3000-2i Offset shuttle. This enables material to be constantly laid and delivered while also ensuring a uniform thickness and smooth surface.

Using a pivoting conveyor, lorries are able to deliver material by travelling along the adjacent haul road and unloading at an angle. This prevents the heavy vehicles from upsetting the prepared sub base layers and it will enable the work to be completed much faster than conventional means.

While the Vӧgele shuttle is powerful, its low consumption six cylinder liquid-cooled diesel engine means carbon emissions will be kept to a minimum.

Progress on the Lincoln Eastern Bypass is going well and the £120 million project is expected to be completed this Autumn.

Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for highways and transport at Lincolnshire County Council, said:

“As more people have discovered life on two wheels during lockdown, upgrading the cycling infrastructure on the east of the city will help people keep up their new cycling habits.

“It goes without saying that cycling is a cheaper, healthier and more environmentally friendly alternative to car travel, so if this new cycle path can help encourage more people to leave the car at home and take their bikes, it’ll help reduce congestion and vehicle-pollution across the city.”