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Faced with what county road building experts describe as the toughest terrain conditions in the North-West, this area of Crow Wood is being slowly conquered by the bridge builders.
The Calder Valley Motorway (M65) will soon emerge from its behind-the-scenes, almost stealthy, embryonic stages to explode on the local traffic system with shattering effect. Anyone living or travelling within sight and sound of the £14m Burnley to Brierfield project will be aware that work is going ahead along the route. Tucked away behind the town, the motorway's beginnings have been something of a sleeping giant. All that is soon to end however, with one of the biggest traffic upheavals in the history of Burnley.
As work begins on the massive and complex Burnley (Barracks) interchange the town will soon be well aware that it is being bulldozed into the motorway age. Not only will the interchange system be massive and complex, it will also cut into other routes, providing connections with the main Padiham road (A671) and the Accrington Burnley route (A679). On top of being an extremely major road engineering project, the interchange will also involve various public service works - gas, electricity, post office, etc. Adding to the problems for the road engineers, the motorway will be in a very deep cutting at this point, with side roads and the interchange above it. There is still a long way to go before the three and a half mile section becomes a reality but the preparatory works, involving bridging of all types, from an aqueduct to railway crossings and pedestrian links, and a multitude of ancilliary requirements is going ahead virtually on schedule.
The final contract out of the five needed to carry out the full stretch has now been awarded. The first involved the Brierfield Link; the second which included the diversion of the canal, a railway bridge, and the establishment of the Clifton aqueduct routing the canal over the motorway is now almost complete; the third contract involving more bridging including the river at Crow Wood, is at an advanced stage; and the fourth which included the Montford viaduct covering an area stretching from Greenhead Lane to the Brierfield section.
The completion date for the whole stretch is placed at summer 1981 and by the middle of 1981 the Hyndburn/Burnley section will have got underway, and it too should become a reality by the middle of 1982.
From a longer article by Bert Bolton.