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

  • Stirling Lloyd in the fast lane: Waterproofing Warsaw’s Rowecki Bridge
    January 19, 2016
    Warsaw’s General Stefan Rowecki Bridge, or the Grota Bridge, is the second largest in the Polish capital and, as part of the Trasa Toruska expressway, it is the busiest. The structure, which opened in 1981, handles 150,000 cars daily, so repairs were always going to be tricky if minimal disruption to traffic was to occur. The steel orthotropic deck consists of two structurally independent parts – each with four traffic lanes. This meant that pedestrians and cyclists were restricted to two very narrow track
  • A wheely great bridge for the English city of Hull
    November 6, 2019
    A 60m pre-constructed pedestrian bridge weighing 150 tonnes as been wheeled into position over the A63 in the northern English city of Hull. The covered and vaulted Princess Quays Bridge will be renamed when it opens in the spring enabling pedestrians and cyclists to cross over the busy dual carriageway. The positioning operation meant that first the route was cleared of signage, guardrails and street lights. The bridge was then lowered onto two wheeled transporters – one at each end of the structur
  • Austria's new tunnel meets safety regulations
    July 13, 2012
    New safety regulations and high traffic volumes require new tunnel construction all across Europe. Mike Woof reports Anew highway tunnel now being built in Austria will boost traffic volumes and safety standards on a key European route. The existing Pfänder Tunnel lies close to Austria's borders with Germany and Switzerland and carries a heavy traffic volume, so a new parallel tunnel is under construction to help spread this load, increasing capacity as well as safety. Stringent tunnel safety standards have
  • Rising to the challenge
    July 18, 2012
    Visualise today's concept of a major commercial traffic corridor in the western United States. A roadway responsible for delivering goods to Arizona, Nevada and Utah, that also connects Mexico to the United States to Canada through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). What springs to mind? A multi-lane highway carrying thousands of vehicles a day past cities at speeds up to 113km/hour, while egress ramps make sure vehicles get safely to city streets and their final destination. This is not the c