Road Structures

A Herrenknecht S-574 Earth Pressure Balance Shield is being used on a major highway project in Italy.

Chinese contractor Shanghai Sheng Xin Construction Co is using an Atlas Copco XAS 67 compressor on a new road bridge project in Shanghai. The new bridge is at Dan Ba Road, one of the main arteries in this older part of the city.

Plans are now moving forward for the construction of a 3.2km bridge in Australia's New South Wales.

Sprayed waterproofing: 'hot topic' Sprayed waterproofing is a hot industry topic, and a paper presented at the recent North American Tunnelling Conference not only discussed this method for achieving a dry tunnel but also how it can reduce build costs and construction time.

The second tube of the Pfänder Tunnel, Bregenz, Austria, where the new main tunnel has been excavated using a tunnel boring machine (TBM), is being constructed by Alpine BeMo Tunnelling. Tubbings have been installed as the inner tunnel lining, and as part of concreting for the inner shell, the FQ 1 crosscut, suitable for vehicles, is being constructed using a tunnel formwork carriage designed and supplied by PERI.

Safety in tunnels is of paramount importance, and in 2014 the European Union will be introducing new safety rules for such structures. As in other parts of the world, many tunnels under construction will be built to high standards incorporating the latest technologies. Many others are being upgraded, including the Elbetunnel, Hamburg, Germany, where the first tunnel under the River Elbe was built in 1911.