A section of York’s City Walls walkway between Micklegate Bar and the Station Rise gate will be closed from Monday 20 May for 6 weeks (29th June 2024 ?). The short section from Barker Tower (at Lendal Bridge) to the Station Rise gate is actually open, BUT there is NO ACCESS beyond that point.
This is for H&S reasons and to allow for the construction of a new retaining wall and rampart following the removal of Queens Street Bridge.
From the CYC Website pages on “York Station Gateway and Queen Street Bridge” =
Activity has been taking place on site. 2 weekend closures in April allowed for the construction of the new temporary road and the removal of parts of Queen Street Bridge. The temporary road is in place while work continues on the project.
For the latest information see CYC web pages = project updates.
Further works
While most of Queen Street Bridge has now been removed, some parts remain in place. The Queen Street approach ramp at the southern end has been left in position, which will act as a piling platform to allow the installation of a contiguous piled retaining wall. This wall will support the embankments and protect the City Walls from any possible movement once the remaining parts of the bridge are removed.
Construction of the piled retaining wall began on Monday 20 May and is expected to take approximately 3 months. At that stage the remainder of the bridge will be removed.
During this time, other parts of the scheme will progress with the contractor Sisk beginning construction of the permanent new road, with improvements to cycling and walking facilities, the new bus interchange and public realm areas.
City walls
Throughout the ongoing Station Gateway works, special care has been taken to monitor and protect the historic City Walls.
The walls and ramparts are designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. This means they are nationally important, and any works which might have an impact on them will need a special permission, called a Scheduled Monument Consent, from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Historic England acts as an advisor to the DCMS. Their specialist team of inspectors and engineers have been working on this project for several years and have reviewed the proposed works well in advance. A Scheduled Monument Consent was submitted to and agreed by DCMS, allowing the works to be carried out.
A key part of this was the installation of a monitoring system, with monitoring targets being attached to the walls and embankments. This allows the council, Historic England and the contractor to monitor the behaviour of the walls before, during and after the works. Advance works has enabled the team to understand typical wall movement throughout the year and develop a plan to mitigate for any movement during or after the works.
During the Queen Street Bridge demolition works, no movement has been recorded to date.
A section of the City Walls walkway between Micklegate Bar and Station Rise will be closed from Monday 20 May for 6 weeks. This is to allow for the construction of a new retaining wall and rampart following the removal of Queens Street Bridge.
Posted on 10th June 2024 AF
Updated on 18th June 2024
