Five firms invited to tender for LTC road contracts
27 September 2021National Highways – formerly Highways England – has announced a shortlist of five construction and engineering companies to design and build the roads leading to the proposed Lower Thames Crossing (LTC).
The two contracts are worth a combined £1.9bn and, taken together with the as yet to be awarded contract to build a tunnel beneath the River Thames, form part of the most ambitious UK road project since the completion of the M25 motorway 35 years ago.
The five companies to be invited to tender and build a total 22.9km of new roads, are:
For Lot 1, £600m two-stage design and build Kent Roads contract south of the proposed tunnel:
- BFV JV - BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Construction (UK) and VINCI Construction Grands Projets
- Costain
- Kier Eiffage JV (KEJV) - Kier Highways and Eiffage Génie Civil
- Skanska Construction UK
For Lot 2, £1.3bn two-stage design and build roads contract north of the Thames:
- Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering
- Kier Eiffage JV (KEJV) - Kier Highways and Eiffage Génie Civil.
When the road and tunnel projects are completed, they will provide a second crossing of the Thames east of London that will incorporate the UK’s longest road tunnel. Currently, the Dartford Crossing is the only one between Kent and Essex but at 60 years old, it has become heavily overused by up to 180,000 vehicles/day, resulting in long delays.
The completed Lower Thames Crossing will double road capacity across the Thames east of London. National Highways claims it will be “the most environmentally sustainable road project ever delivered in the UK”.
