ONE of Liverpool's biggest and most challenging engineering projects is due to get under way in just over a week's time.
It will affect the key city centre route of The Strand and involves the construction of the entrance to the 2,000-space underground car park being built as part of Grosvenor's Paradise Street development, known as Liverpool One.
The work will see two ramps being built into the centre of the busy carriageway.
They will begin at road level and slope down to a depth of seven metres, allowing cars to be fed into the lowest basement level of the car park.
Preparation work by Grosvenor's construction partner, Laing O'Rourke, will start on July 30 and be followed by the main tunnelling work towards the autumn.
Laing O'Rourke civil engineer Peter Jones said: "One of the main points of arrival to the Liverpool One development will be the car park that sits underneath what was Chavasse Park.
"Capita Symonds, the project's highways engineers, have designed the ramps, which will be positioned in what is currently the central reservation of The Strand.
"The ramps are an essential element of the traffic management solution on this arterial route.
"In the final scheme, cars will take a slip road to the right, into the central reserve area, to access the ramps down to the tunnels, allowing the through traffic on The Strand to keep flowing smoothly.
"One of the main challenges whilst constructing the ramps is to keep The Strand open to traffic. Our traffic management solution means that we have been able to sequence our works to keep this road flowing."
While work takes place, the southbound carriageway of The Strand will contraflow on to the old northbound carriageway, allowing two lanes to be kept open in both directions.
At the same time as this project - part of Liverpool's "Big Dig" programme - gets under way, other major work will also start on Hanover Street.
As revealed in the Daily Post, this will see Liverpool city centre's major route to the new Paradise Street bus station close for almost a year and a half.
A combination of work by Grosvenor, United Utilities and gas company National Grid will mean hundreds of buses a day having to be re-routed during the full shutdown of Hanover Street and virtually all of Ranelagh Street.
Cllr Peter Millea, Liverpool's executive member for regeneration, said: "Much of the work on Hanover Street is about United Utilities delivering necessary water mains improvements.
"But much of this activity is about regenerating the entire city and creating new opportunities for generations to come.
"The city's engineers and traffic experts are working closely with contractors, developers and United Utilities to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum.
"In addition, work will be suspended during Mathew Street festival to ensure residents and visitors have their usual enjoyable weekend.
"What we are doing in Liverpool is unique in the UK in terms of the sheer scale of the development taking place in such a relatively short timescale.
"It is a massive and complex jobe."
