The first of eight 'superspan' gantries have arrived for the M60 and M62 smart motorway project in Manchester.

The overhead structures will be installed over the next six weeks, with the first being erected across the M62 on Thursday, 05 May.

Each gantry is up to 59 metres wide, weigh up to 78 tonnes and will require a special 500-tonne crane to help install them.

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Overnight closures and diversions will be in place during installation works, with the first closure taking place along the M62 in both directions between junction 19 and junction 20 from 10pm on Thursday night until 6am on Friday morning.

Highways England project manager Stephen Hill said: "These new gantries are quite a bit lighter than the old gantries we removed earlier in the project. But they are still very large structures and are actually arriving on site in 2 parts. A 150 tonne mobile crane will then be used to join the 2 sections together before the larger crane lifts the whole structure in place across the motorway."

The smart motorway scheme is due to be completed in autumn 2017.

(LM)