Mersey Gateway gets interactive
New interactive features on the Mersey Gateway website are enabling Halton residents and commuters to keep-up-to-date with the construction of the Mersey Gateway Bridge at the click of a button.
The new features include:
- ‘Down Your Street’, a series of interactive maps that show the latest information about works likely to impact local residents, businesses and commuters; and
- a live image gallery, where photographs of the bridge construction are streamed directly from a time-lapse camera installed on site.
The Down Your Street interactive maps focus on nine local areas across the project route. By clicking on a specific section, residents can find out detailed information about what’s happening and how they may be affected in terms of roadworks, tree clearance, and other essential works.
Down Your Street will be updated regularly with new pictures and plans to keep people informed during the construction project right through to when the new bridge opens in 2017.
The live image gallery provides regular snapshots of the bridge construction from a newly installed time-lapse camera located on the Widnes side of the river. A further camera will be installed at a location in Runcorn at a later date.
The camera is programmed to take photographs of the site every few minutes, providing the public with the opportunity to watch the bridge being built in real time. Using this technique will allow Merseylink to create a series of short films documenting the bridge construction.
These new digital features have been developed by Merseylink as part of the construction consortium’s commitment to keep local people informed about the three-and-a-half year bridge project.
Hugh O’Connor, General Manager at Merseylink, said: “Work will take place right across the borough of Halton during the next three years. As well as the main bridge, there are also many other sites where Merseylink construction teams will be active. Using Down Your Street means we can share any potential impact with local residents as soon as possible and keep them informed of our plans throughout the project.”
Cllr Rob Polhill, Leader of Halton Borough Council, said: “This innovative use of technology not only provides Halton residents – and the wider world – with the opportunity to watch our new bridge being built, it also enables us to capture these historic moments for posterity. I, for one, will be watching with interest.”
Down Your Street and the live image gallery can be accessed from the homepage of the Mersey Gateway website – www.merseygateway.co.uk
The economic, transport and social benefits the project will bring to the region include:
- 470 permanent full-time equivalent jobs on site during construction
- 4,640 permanent direct and indirect jobs
- £61.9 million a year in Gross Value Added from the new jobs by 2030.
When it opens in 2017, both the new bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge will be tolled, but they will be free to all residents. Residents of Halton will still need to register to use the bridges and there will be a small charge for this.
