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

  • Greater efficiency with highway work zone safety
    April 2, 2014
    Leading highway work zone safety solution manufacturers have developed innovative new systems offering greater utility and efficiency for work crews involved in vital highways’ projects. Guy Woodford reports Mobile Barriers is now offering its MBT-1 barrier with cranes, scissor lifts, camera-communication towers and other options to enhance the system’s utility and efficiency. “This has been largely client driven and an outgrowth of our ongoing development for the transportation and security/defence s
  • Sandvik’s Turkish delight at groundbreaking tunnel vision
    May 20, 2014
    Turkey’s longest, and what will be the world’s fourth longest, highway tunnel is being built under Mount Ovit in the northeast of the country. Sandvik Construction is playing a vital role in the construction of the giant new structure, which will enable all-year-round access to what is a relatively remote and often snow-blocked part of Anatolia Having had their freedom of movement blighted for many years by wintertime snow blocking the D925 highway, along with narrower roads and passes, at Mount Ovit, resi
  • Concrete paving key to Berlin's airport runways
    February 17, 2012
    High production concrete paving is proving a key feature at the new Berlin airport facility currently under construction The new Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport will soon provide improved links by air to the city. Work started in mid 2006 with the redevelopment of the existing Berlin Schönefeld Airport.
  • Pattullo Bridge deck near completion
    July 29, 2025
    For several weeks, crews have been installing concrete deck panels, steel girders and stay cables outward from the towers of the bridge that spans the Fraser River near Vancouver, Canada.