Skip to main content

Gloucester lift bridge is opened

The newly-opened High Orchard Bridge in Gloucester, south-west England, links the city's inner relief road to the new south-west bypass and provides access to the massive Gloucester Quays €293.5 million redevelopment scheme. The lift bridge structure was designed and constructed under a joint venture involving English Partnerships, British Waterways and developer Peel Holdings. The €11.74 million structure is a contemporary single-span bridge, with an efficient electro-hydraulic movable, 300tonne lifting d
July 12, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The newly-opened High Orchard Bridge in Gloucester, south-west England, links the city's inner relief road to the new south-west bypass and provides access to the massive Gloucester Quays €293.5 million redevelopment scheme.

The lift bridge structure was designed and constructed under a joint venture involving English Partnerships, British Waterways and developer Peel Holdings. The €11.74 million structure is a contemporary single-span bridge, with an efficient electro-hydraulic movable, 300tonne lifting deck.

DavyMarkham was contracted by civil engineering contractors Alun Griffiths to design and manufacture the mechanical, hydraulic and electrical elements of the bridge, notably the main pivot bearings, the deck operating system, tail locking assemblies and electrical control equipment. The bridge deck, supplied separately by structural steelwork company Rowecord, measures 28m long by 16m wide and weighs around 200tonnes, with an additional concrete and steel 100tonne counterweight in the tail section.

Related Content

  • New Midtown Tunnel open in Virginia
    January 30, 2017
    A project to construct the second Midtown Tunnel link in the US state of Virginia alongside the original connection has taken an important step forward – Mike Woof writes Commuters in the US state of Virginia will be pleased that the new Midtown Tunnel is now open to traffic, as it will help to boost capacity and cut congestion on the busy US 58 route connecting Norfolk and Portsmouth. The 1.13km tunnel link has been built to link with the interchange at Brambleton Avenue and Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk
  • Work begins on Stockholm’s new bypass
    August 22, 2016
    The first tunnels are being excavated for the huge bypass tunnel in Sweden’s capital Stockholm – Adrian Greeman writes. After years of preparation and design, blasting and rock moving for Sweden's largest infrastructure project began south of the city this year. It sets in train a decade-long project that will create a new half-ring dual three-lane motorway for the city, 20km long. With most of it deep underground, it will also be one of Europe's largest ever road tunnels. The scheme is aimed at transformin
  • Busy bridge in Beijing replaced quickly
    March 31, 2016
    The replacement of a very busy road bridge in China’s capital Beijing has been carried out successfully. Due to the volume of traffic using the bridge during week days, the work had to be carried out quickly so as to minimise traffic disruption. But despite being carried out in the centre of Beijing, the replacement work for the Sanyuan Bridge just took 43 hours from start to completion.
  • Cleveland Bridge is all decked out on the England’s A14 scheme
    June 4, 2019
    As part of Highways England’s A14 upgrade project from Cambridge to Huntington, Cleveland Bridge installed two 1,050tonne pre-assembled bridge decks in just 11 hours. Months of detailed planning and client liaison ensured the 47.5m-long bridge decks, each containing 330tonnes of steel and 720tonnes of concrete, were successfully travelled to the site and lowered onto the abutments. On-site civil engineering works were undertaken by the A14 Integrated Delivery Team, a joint venture between Costain,