Park & Ride Scheme Unveiled for Midlands Metro Users

Fitzgerald Contractors’ recently completed civil engineering scheme at Bradley Lane Park & Ride, Wolverhampton, has been officially opened and now enables rail Metro users to benefit from a free and easily accessible 196-space parking facility.

 The Fitzgerald project team and construction partners joined West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and local Councillors to mark the new facility being unveiled by Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street.

The Park & Ride facility is a key part of WMCA’s investment programme which encourages greater use of public transport across the region, helping to ease congestion and improve air quality.

Our scope of works involved the construction of a new 196-space car park and 150m long access road. The contract involved the installation of pedestrian steps and access for all ramps from the car park to the Metro stop platforms, together with the installation of drainage, ducting, formwork and reinforced concrete works for the structure.

The car park has ample provision for blue badge and motorcycle parking, electric vehicle charging points, cycle storage and is complemented by environmentally friendly LED lighting, CCTV coverage, Help Points and landscaped areas.

From the outset Fitzgerald’s management team established a strong collaborative relationship with WMCA. Our team quickly devised a project delivery strategy which provided WMCA with a clear understanding of all risks, cost control measures and a robust construction programme.

The inclement weather also became a significant challenge due to our works taking place during a particularly wet winter. This resulted in the ground becoming soft and not conducive to earthworks operations with the necessity to remove 6,000m3 of excavated material off site, and to ensure the safe importation of fill material for the car park foundations and surfacing.

Fitzgerald Contracts Manager Morgan Courtney said: ‘The potential for bad weather was identified as a significant risk at preconstruction stage. When this did occur, we deployed our plan to subsequently re-phase our works and as a result we successfully maintained our programme and delivered on time and to budget’.

Following the successful delivery of the Bradley Lane scheme Fitzgerald are building on the excellent relationships developed with WMCA, and have been appointed to engage in Early Contractor Involvement on a number of highways improvement schemes in Birmingham.