A specialist HS2 engineering team has successfully moved a 112-metre-long, 1,631-tonne steel structure over Lawley Middleway, part of Birmingham's ring road, four days ahead of schedule.

The operation was delivered by HS2's main works contractor in the West Midlands, Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), alongside bridge move specialists Mammoet. To minimise disruption, the bridge was relocated during night-time closures, moving between 18 and 24 metres each night using a specialised skidding system, allowing the road to remain open during the day.

The steel span had been constructed on land next to Digbeth Canal over the past two years, rather than being built in situ, drastically reducing road disruption. On 15 August 2025, heavy lifting experts rotated the bridge 90 degrees using two self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs). Over the following four nights, a combination of the skidding system with a jacking push/pull mechanism and the SPMTs moved the structure into its final position—a technique rarely used and a first for BBV on the HS2 project.

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The Lawley Middleway bridge is part of the railway's approach to Birmingham, connecting high-speed trains emerging from the west portal of the 3.5-mile Bromford Tunnel at Washwood Heath to a one-mile stretch of five linked viaducts, including Duddeston Junction, Curzon 1, Curzon 2, Lawley Middleway, and Curzon 3, leading onto Birmingham Curzon Street Station platforms.

With the bridge now in place, work on this section of the HS2 route will continue, including the second Bromford Tunnel breakthrough, Curzon 2 viaduct move, first Duddeston Junction viaduct move, reopening of Aston Church Road, demolition of the old Aston Church Road bridge, and construction of the new Saltley Viaduct, all scheduled over the next 12 months.