For the expansion of the road capacity of highway A6 (running North-South through Flevoland, The Netherlands) the junction with highway A1 needed to be rearranged. For this expansion, and a smooth connection of the new A6, the nearby concrete railway bridges needed to be replaced by a new steel bridge with a record-breaking span of 255 meter. the Zandhazenburg. To minimize obstruction and road closures, the new bridge was assembled next to the highway. Subsequently, it was transported over the highway by SPMTs and later shifted into position.
Crossing a highway with a load of more than 8,500 tons, without any damage to the road and the bridge itself, is not as easy as “crossing the street”. Especially the subsoil of the highway, partly consisting out of peat, was reason for concern.
The offered solution was to transport the assembled steel bridge over the highway to a temporary location along the existing railway bridge. The next step was to complete the bridge assembly with a concrete deck and demolish the existing railway bridges. Finally, the new bridge was skidded into the final location.
For crossing the highway a reinforced SPMT track was made, compacted and partly excavated. This in combination with almost 500 lines of SPMT, an extensive monitoring system on the bridge itself and real time water pressure meters deeper underground. During the second phase, where the bridge was skidded into final position, the bridge weight was grown up to a massive 15,700 tons.
As heavy transport specialist, Eager.one participated in the reviewing committee of this challenging project. We were responsible for the check of the prepared plans and project schedule.
The bridge was transported and skidded within the planned time window without any setbacks!
Would you like to learn more about the Heavy Lifting and Special Transport? Check the Masterclass agenda from the Eager.Academy, or one of the online videos.
Call +31 (0) 30 240 80 60 or use the contact form. We always respond within 24 hours.