The contract was given in early March 1968, to be finished by September 1970, to the Christiani-Shand consortium (its headquarters were at Romney House, on Marsham Street in London) for £3,146,387.

Thirty two 125-foot concrete 100-tonne beams were put into place in July 1970; the concrete beams were made by Matthews & Mumby of Windmill Lane, Denton, Greater Manchester.

[4] 31-year-old Harry Russon was killed instantly on the bridge construction on Wednesday 6 August 1969.

The five-mile motorway opened for traffic at 11am on Sunday 21 February 1971; the viaduct would open with hard shoulders; the Thelwall Viaduct on the M6 was not originally built with a hard shoulder.

The section to Preston Brook at junction 11 opened on Thursday 23 September 1971.