by Marinella Melerra
Major raising of bridges Albert Canal
With almost 40 million tonnes of goods transported annually, the Albert Canal is the most important waterway in Flanders. Container transport in particular has seen substantial growth over the past decade. That is why De Vlaamse Waterweg is investing heavily to increase the capacity of the Albert Canal. Bottleneck for inland navigation is the current restriction in clearance height and width under the bridges. By raising the bridges to a clear headway of 9.10 metres, ships with four layers of containers will soon be able to navigate the canal safely and smoothly.
Safe has been involved for years
Safe has been involved in this major raising operation for several clients for years. We even developed our own shoring system for this. Purlins are suspended from the flanges of the cross sections with a specially tailored clamp. Our spindles can be mounted in these. By using various lengths of aluminium bars on top of these spindles, we can support virtually any width and length. As contact formwork, concreteplex is nailed onto the H20 girders. These girders in turn rest on the aforementioned aluminium beams. The cover formwork is usually assembled on the quay. Here, we take into account that our support must not interfere with the SPMTs driven under the bridges to bring them to the pontoon and jack them up for placement on the final abutments.
After pouring and curing, we dismantle our bridge deck formwork. This is done above land from aerial platforms and above water from a scaffold we have built on a pontoon. The latter takes place during a weekend stoppage.
Nine bridges under contract
Currently, Safe from TM Via T Albert KW Cluster 2 has eight arch bridges and the approach bridge in Beringen under contract. A total of almost 18,000m2 of deck formwork! For the approach bridge in Beringen, we applied our Poly support. A total of three profiles of clearances were required so as not to obstruct through traffic on the canal and to keep a pump pit accessible at all times.
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