Rendering courtesy Mersey Gateway

Mersey River span, shown here in a rendering, is scheduled for completion in 2017 at an estimated cost of more than $900 million. It will carry traffic across the river between Runcorn and Widnes, about 20 kilometers east of Liverpool.

A consortium of Australian, German and Spanish firms on 20 June was named preferred bidder for a privately financed, 30-year contract to design, build and operate a roughly one-kilometer-long bridge with three cable-stayed spans over the Mersey River between Runcorn and Widnes, about 20 km east of Liverpool, U.K.

With a concrete-box-girder deck, the new Mersey Gateway project—valued at $930 million, including land—is due for completion in 2017. The successful Merseylink consortium comprises Macquarie Capital Group Ltd., Bilfinger Project Investments Europe Ltd. and FCC Construcción S.A.

To design, build and operate the toll bridge, the group has secured a joint venture that includes locally based Kier Infrastructure and Overseas Ltd., South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp. and FCC Construcción S.A.

“A project of this complexity coming in under budget is a real success,” says Steve Nicholson, project director at Halton Borough Council, the project owner.