Skip to main content

Video captures nocturnal bridge demolition in Germany’s Ruhr area

November 17, 2014
It was a 24-hour job to demolish the bridge called On Leiterchen that crossed over the A43 in the industrial Ruhr area of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Traffic was stopped in both directions between junctions Recklinghausen-Hochlarmark and Recklinghause-Herten.

Before the serious work of nibbling away at the concrete structure could start, a 50cm layer of sand was spread across the entire motorway to protect the pavement from excavator machine tracks and falling concrete. The bridge eventually jack-knifed in on itself.

Equipment used included Cat 336D and E excavators, three Hitachi ZX350 and one ZX470 excavators and two Mercedes Benz Arocs dump trucks.

Related Content

  • Israeli contractor using Hitachi excavator for road construction
    December 4, 2014
    In Israel a specialist contractor is using a new Hitachi excavator for major earthmoving work on the Road 65 construction project in the north of the country. Hilkiyahu’s ZX670LCH-5 has already clocked over 1,100 working hours, excavating and loading 1.5million m³ of materials on the upgraded route.
  • Hitachi machines productive in West African quarry
    March 21, 2016
    Two Hitachi ZX350LCH-3Gs recently acquired by West African company Logistics Support Services (LSS) are proving invaluable assets to operations at the Arigu Rock quarry, located close to Tamale in northern Ghana. The medium Zaxis-3 excavators are working across the 18ha site to excavate granite materials for use in road construction and concrete works, among others. Acquired in early 2015 by LSS, the Arigu Rock quarry holds enough materials to sustain an operation for over 50 years. The site’s 24 employees
  • 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.
  • VIDEO: UK overnight bridge demolition job
    May 16, 2016
    A spectacular video shows footage a key bridge demolition job in the UK. The bridge crossing the busy A38 near Plymouth was demolished during a weekend possession on the 14th and 15th of May 2016. The footage has been released by 8100 Highways England and shows the old Merafield Bridge at Plympton being demolished overnight on Saturday 14th May, marking the final stage of a £6.3 million maintenance project on the A38.