'Massive progress' made on Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor during lockdown

Work started on phase three of the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor (SSTC3) in May last year at the southern end of the Northern Spire bridge.

The multi-million pound council project will create a new link through Pallion, running underneath the Queen Alexandra Bridge, into Deptford and onto the city centre and St Mary’s Boulevard.

When completed, the route will serve regeneration sites such as Riverside Sunderland at the former Vaux site, alongside cutting congestion and improving journey times.

As the country came to a standstill in March under the Covid-19 lockdown, work continued on SSTC 3 in line with strict health and safety regulations and social distancing.

Sunderland City Council bosses have said that the coronavirus pandemic itself created opportunities for work to progress at a faster pace.

“Unfortunately that’s one of the benefits and opportunities that we’re able to take in terms of the current situation,” Assistant Director of Infrastructure, Planning and Transportation, Mark Jackson, explained.

“Things like the [Beach Street] household waste and recycling centre being shut down because of what was going on with the response to coronavirus, meant that we had an opportunity to get on and do work which we would have [otherwise] had to accommodate access arrangements for.

“Traffic levels dropped to about 20 to 30 percent of their normal levels when this situation originally arose which again, gave opportunities where we could do things without inconveniencing as many people.

“So whilst the situation hasn’t been a nice situation in so many ways,it did give the project an opportunity.

“Working alongside our contractor we were able to re-phase things and capitalise on that opportunity that arose.

“I think probably as the lockdown is removed and people start coming back into the city for non-essential shopping, if we had then come in and started shutting those roads down people would have probably then started asking us what have you been doing for the last four months.

“So I hope people appreciate that we have taken the opportunity as it has arisen, always taking into account Public Health England guidelines and construction best practice models.”

The comments came during a virtual meeting of the Economic Prosperity Scrutiny Committee, which was broadcast on the council’s YouTube page.

Mr Jackson was responding to Coun Michael Dixon who noted the progress on SSTC 3 so far.

The transport boss added: “We have adapted and implemented whatever was required to make sure primarily that the staff working on site in terms of the contractors, our staff and the public are all kept safe at all times.”

Last year, it was revealed the construction contract for SSTC 3 had been awarded to Esh Civils, the civil engineering division of Esh Construction.

Council prudential borrowing, Department for Transport funding and a local transport grant have all contributed to the project budget.

To date, the works are around 60% complete with more than £43 million of the £70.8 million budget spent.

Councillors heard the project was allowed to continue by the Government as it was classed as ‘critical infrastructure’.

To keep the project moving, contractors and council bosses also introduced a raft of measures.

This included cleansing stations and health and safety checks, stockpiling key components for road construction and financial changes to ease cashflow through the supply chain.

Meanwhile, investment in IT and technology helped project bosses and consultants communicate remotely, alongside social distancing measures on the live site.

The project has also had other benefits with contracts awarded to 27 Sunderland businesses and the creation of several apprenticeships.

In addition, around 53% of employees working on the scheme live within 20 miles of it.

SSTC 3 aims to improve connectivity, the distribution of traffic across river crossings, journey times and road safety and is scheduled for completion in Autumn 2021.

At this week’s scrutiny meeting, Coun Keith Jenkins praised contractors for the progress on site.

“I work in the building industry and when Covid-19 hit there were a lot of people standing close together,” he said.

“For my daily exercise I was walking along the riverside frequently and not once did I see anybody close together [at SSTC 3] which was a good thing.

“You have moved on massively in the last few months while this has went on which is credit to the company that is doing the work there.”

Further improvements on Wessington Way, between the A19 and north end of the Northern Spire and improvements to routes into the Port of Sunderland are also planned across phases four and five of the SSTC vision.

However, council bosses say these schemes are subject to future “funding opportunities”.

For more information, visit: www.sunderland.gov.uk/article/14871/Sunderland-Strategic-Transport-Corridor

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