Rakewood Viaduct carries the M62 Motorway

M62 motorway

The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...

 over Rakewood Valley and Longden End Brook

Longden End Brook

Longden End Brook is the main feeder stream of Hollingworth Lake. It originates near Blackstone Edge, and flows down Rakewood Valley and underneath the M62 Motorway at Rakewood Viaduct, before arriving at Hollingworth Lake.-Tributaries:...

 between junctions 21 and 22 at Littleborough in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

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The viaduct is 840 feet long and 140 feet above the valley floor. It was built in 1966 by Reed and Mallik Ltd and opened to motorway traffic in October 1971. It has a sister bridge, The Gathurst Viaduct which carries the M6 Motorway over the Leeds to Liverpool Canal, Manchester to Southport Railway and River Douglas and was constructed prior to the Rakewood Viaduct.

The steelwork deck was subcontracted to Robert Watson Steelwork Ltd of High Street Bolton. William Openshaw of Bolton was the foreman in charge of the steelwork. Eric Baldwin and Mark Baldwin both of Wigan were steel erectors during construction.

Due to the height of the bridge and the surrounding hillside exposure it is often subject to high speed cross winds.