High-speed railway HS2 has opened two bridges near Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, which carry a local road and a long-distance cycle track across the new railway.

The two bridges are the Fosse Way road bridge and the Offchurch Greenway walking and cycling bridge.

The B4455 road crosses the railway over the 78-metre-long Fosse Way bridge, which is located near the village of Offchurch, near Leamington. It follows the route of a Roman road from Exeter to Lincoln. Local traffic uses the road to travel between the villages around Leamington and Coventry.

The Fosse Way bridge is 14 metres wide, which provides space for a pavement alongside the road.

The nearby Offchurch Greenway bridge opened several days before the Fosse Way bridge. The 68-metre-long bridge carries the walking and cycle path between Leamington and Rugby. The Greenway runs along the route of a disused rail line.

The bridge is 22m wide. Grass verges will be planted on both sides of the shared path, which will help wildlife cross the railway.

At present, the Greenway crosses the B4455 at ground level after crossing HS2 and continues towards Rugby. Next year, HS2 will replace this crossing with a new bridge, which will separate cyclists and walkers from passing traffic.

Now that the new bridges are open, HS2’s contractors will start work demolishing the old section of the road. This will create space for the cutting along which the new railway will run.

The two bridges are formed of precast beams which sit on concrete piers. Both were built and installed by Galldris, which is a sub-contractor on behalf of HS2’s main works contractor, Balfour Beatty VINCI.

This year, HS2 has completed the construction of four major bridges in this part of Warwickshire in 2025. It had previously opened the Welsh Road Underbridge in February and the A46 box structure in April.

The HS2 project involves more than 200 bridges on the HS2 project, which include foot and cycle bridges and wildlife-friendly ‘green bridges’, as well as enormous viaducts like the Colne Valley, which is the longest railway bridge in the UK.

“It’s great to see the Fosse Way and Offchurch Greenway bridges open to the public within a few days of each other. These bridges may be relatively small, but they play a vital role in keeping communities connected and I’d like to thank everyone who worked so hard over the last few years to get them open to the public.”

Vicki Lee, HS2 Ltd’s Senior Project Manager