Costain leads race for Walton Bridge project

Costain is emerging as the favourite to bridge the gap under a £25m deal in Surrey.
Sources say that the contractor is edging ahead of Laing O'Rourke, its only remaining rival for the Walton Bridge scheme at Walton-on-Thames.
It is expected that the client, Surrey County Council, will officially reveal the identity of its preferred bidder after the general election.
The new bridge will be a tied-arch structure. This design surfaced as the most popular over beam and slab, cable-stayed and twin "V" support at a public
exhibition showcasing various bridge designs.
The new crossing of the River Thames will be built about 20m upstream from the existing temporary bridge, which carries an estimated 34,000 vehicles every weekday.
The project also features twin link roads and a new viaduct across a floodplain.
The current timetable is for work to start in February 2007 on the early contractor involvement contract. Completion is set for June 2009.
The client also originally shortlisted Amec, Carillion and Morgan Est to pitch for the scheme.