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

  • Terex Superlift 3800 crane rises to the challenge in Alsace
    May 14, 2015
    Crane service provider Sarens has used a Terex Superlift 3800 lattice boom crawler crane to lift a pedestrian and bicycle steel bridge over the A4 Autoroute near Schiltigheim, in the Aisace region of France. The job was out of the ordinary, according to the Sarens Group, a transport and specialised rigging specialist based in Wolvertem, Belgium. “We didn’t have a special permit for a heavy-load transport with the required weight,” said Sarens project manager Joost Elsen.
  • The Lessons of the Genoa bridge collapse
    April 23, 2019
    The partial collapse of the Polcevera viaduct, better known as the Morandi Bridge, has prompted debate regarding the technical and administrative aspects of maintaining road infrastructures. We discussed it with the engineer Gabriele Camomilla, former Director of Research and Maintenance of the Società Autostrade, who coordinated the only major structural intervention performed on the bridge, carried out in the early 1990s
  • São Paulo's landmark bridge construction
    February 21, 2012
    To improve access from the east to São Paulo city centre, main contractor Construbase Engenharia is building a road complex comprising three viaducts and access ramps. The greatest challenge in Brazil's largest city is the showpiece Padre Adelino viaduct, a 122m long single-arch, single-span, cable-stayed concrete bridge moulded in situ with a parabola-shaped arch and a single-cell post-tensioned cantilever caisson
  • Excavator advances for the earthmoving sector
    May 26, 2021
    Manufacturers are introducing an array of new excavators and improved models