Lichfield & Hatherton canal jacked culverts: design and settlement control for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
Restoration of the Lichfield and Hatherton canals will require jacked culverts to be installed beneath the A38 and an active railway, reinstating historic waterway alignments severed by past road and rail schemes. Engineers must design low-cover, large-diameter culvert barrels capable of carrying canal navigation loads while maintaining motorway and rail traffic, likely using long-distance pipe jacking from constrained launch shafts. The works will demand careful settlement control, continuous monitoring of track and pavement, and robust groundwater management to protect both existing infrastructure and canal water levels.
Technical Brief
- Similar UK canal reinstatements under live infrastructure increasingly adopt jacked solutions to avoid open‑cut risks and long diversions.
Our Take
Other New Civil Engineer coverage in our database, such as the webinar on BIM and asset data handover, suggests that jacked culvert works beneath the A38 and a railway will likely face scrutiny on how construction and as-built data are managed for long-term asset stewardship.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
