Rakewood Viaduct
Rakewood Viaduct carries the M62 Motorway over Rakewood Valley and Longden End Brook between junctions 21 and 22 at Littleborough in Greater Manchester, England.
The viaduct is 280 yards long and 140 feet above the valley floor. It was built in 1966 by Reed and Mallik Ltd and opened to motorway traffic in October 1971. It has a sister bridge, Gathurst Viaduct, which carries the M6 Motorway over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the Manchester to Southport railway and the River Douglas and was constructed prior to the Rakewood Viaduct.
The steelwork deck was subcontracted to Robert Watson Steelwork Ltd of High Street, Bolton. William Openshaw of Bolton was the foreman in charge of the steelwork. Eric Baldwin and Mark Baldwin both of Wigan were steel erectors during construction.
Due to the height of the bridge and the surrounding hillside exposure it is often subject to high speed cross winds.
References
- The Weighvers Seaport by A W Colligan JP in association with George Kelsall (ISBN 0-9505577-0-6)
Coordinates: 53°37′14″N 2°04′59″W / 53.6205°N 2.0830°W