Teams dig out 60,000 tonnes of rocks and rubble at Sunderland riverside in preparation for £35million dual carriageway in third phase of the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor (SSTC)

Over 60,000 tonnes have so far been excavated for the new road development.

The road is part of a £1.5billion package of city-wide improvements over the next five years, and the third phase of the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor (SSTC).

It will run from south of the Northern Spire, through Pallion, underneath Queen Alexandra Bridge, into Deptford and onto the city centre at St Mary's Boulevard. Work will include 1.2 miles of retaining walls.

The scheme will cost £35million and take up to 27 months to complete. It is scheduled to open in autumn 2021. Traffic management is in place along Trimdon Street. Piling works will soon begin for the foundations of the new retaining wall on the bankside of Pallion New Road.

Andrew Georgeson, operations director of Esh Civils with Councillor Amy Wilson on a tour of the site.

Excavation began in June and the 60,000 cubic tonnes of rocks, stones and old concrete from buried structures and buildings has been separated and processed on site by a crusher hopper. It can be reused as engineering fill for the road’s foundations and landscape.

Councillor Amy Wilson said: "There's a lot going on with all these ground and excavation works. It's already amazing to see these big and deep excavations that are many feet deep and hundreds of feet long.

"As the cabinet member for environment and transport, I’m very pleased to see so much of what has been excavated is being recycled and processed into new construction materials. There is an amazing amount of work going on behind the scenes for this investment in our city.

"As a council we’ve always said how important it is continue investing in our city’s infrastructure so that we keep people and goods and services moving freely and conveniently.”

Excavators have moved more then 60,000 tonnes so far to make way for the new dual carriageway.

Ken Heads, the council’s SSTC project director, said: "The council is working closely with Esh Civils to reduce waste and recycle as much material as possible in these major works.

"By reprocessing methods Esh Civils are generating more engineering material than initially expected and its good to see site won material being used in the works.

"The change to this area in these early stages of the project are astonishing and we are all looking forward to seeing more works in the coming months."