Federal Roads Office uses mobile bridge
The Federal Roads Office has found a way to avoid annoying and dangerous partial closures during maintenance work on motorways. The traffic is directed over a mobile bridge. You can work underneath.
The Federal Roads Office ( FEDRO ) has launched the FEDRO Bridge pilot project. According to a press release , this is a mobile bridge for use in maintenance work on motorways. The traffic is slowed down at 60 kilometers per hour over the almost 240 meter long bridge. Underneath there is a space of around 100 meters where work can be carried out undisturbed by road traffic. When the construction phase is finished, the mobile bridge is pushed a hundred meters further and the work continues.
This eliminates the barriers and shutdowns of sections of the roadway that are otherwise necessary for occupational safety. You can also work unhindered during the day. With today's traffic volume on many sections of the motorway, it has not been possible to reduce lanes for maintenance work during the day for a long time, according to the statement from the Federal Office. Accordingly, more and more construction work on the national highways has to be carried out at night. ASTRA believes that lane reduction without traffic jams on the main axes such as A1 and A2 is only possible after 11 p.m. Because of the lower noise limits, some work such as noisy demolition is not possible at night.
The Federal Office therefore decided to develop and build the ASTRA Bridge. In the fact sheet for the mobile bridge, the length is specified as exactly 236 meters, the width as 7.30 meters and the height as 4.32 meters. Underneath, it is possible to work on a hundred meters at a width of 5.2 meters and a height of 3.10 meters.
The ASTRA Bridge is equipped with a landing gear. Raised hydraulically by 10 centimeters, it can travel lengthways and crossways. Once the work under the bridge has been completed, it will continue to drive 100 meters by remote control for the next construction phase, according to the fact sheet. To assemble the bridge before use, 18 low-loaders are required for transport and four cranes are required for assembly.
According to the Federal Office, the individual elements for the ASTRA Bridge are currently being built and then transported to the bridge's storage area in Rothrist TG. The bridge is to be assembled and tested for the first time in late autumn. If these tests are satisfactory, the ASTRA Bridge will be used in spring 2022 as a pilot project for paving renovations on the A1 section between Recherswil SO and Kriegstetten SO. According to the press release, the ASTRA Bridge prototype will cost around CHF 20 million. After completion of a construction project and a maintenance phase, it can be used again for the next construction project.