Skip to main content

Brazilian bridge to the beach

The State of Pernambuco in north-eastern Brazil has some of the country's most beautiful beaches, and on the peninsula of Cabo de Santo Agostinho a luxury resort has sprung up with apartments (condominios) and hotels for international tourists. To give the resort a convenient, fast link to the coastal highway, the Via Parque consortium is building a bridge over the Jaboatão River, which separates the peninsula from the mainland.
March 1, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
An impression of how the bridge will look
The State of Pernambuco in north-eastern Brazil has some of the country's most beautiful beaches, and on the peninsula of Cabo de Santo Agostinho a luxury resort has sprung up with apartments (condominios) and hotels for international tourists.

To give the resort a convenient, fast link to the coastal highway, the Via Parque consortium is building a bridge over the Jaboatão River, which separates the peninsula from the mainland.

The 320m long Ponte do Paiva across the river has a clear span of 290m, and is part of a new road system that will cut the journey from the airport to the peninsula from 48km to 14km. It will have two traffic lanes and a pedestrian and cycle lane.

The reinforced concrete box girder is being constructed using the cantilever method, working outward from the two pier heads and back-stayed in every casting section. Via Parque opted for 203 Doka Brasil to supply the formwork, and it planned and supplied a custom formwork solution that was optimally tailored to the specific requirements.

The four cantilevered forming carriages were fitted with a total of 1,000m² of large-area formwork Top 50. The formwork solution called for particular flexibility in the seventh casting section, which at 5m in length is twice as long as a typical section. Using stacking plates and 1.8m long formwork beams, it was possible to lengthen the formwork to the desired dimensions swiftly and safely.

A Doka field service technician coordinated the job of erecting the formwork solution correctly, and was on hand to assist the site team with advice and practical help throughout the start-up phase.

Although the crane had not been erected, forming operations on the foundations of the pier heads had to be started, and Doka Brasil supplied the site with the lightweight, rugged framed formwork Frami. Its low weight means that it can be shifted by hand.

"Even without crane assistance, some very good forming times were achieved with it on the site. Thanks to the logically coordinated panel formats, the crew was able to form the foundations with a minimum of prior planning," said Doka.

The site crew also used Frami on the pier-head itself.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Norway moves toward more E39 coastal road improvements
    April 4, 2019
    Norway is working on plans to make more of the major north-south E39 coastal route a ferry-free highway, coasting €35.3 billion, according to media. In Norway, the trans-European route 39 is part national road system and is developed and maintained by the public roads administration. It runs for 1,330km along the coast from Klett just south of Trondheim to Nørresundby. Norway’s E39 is mostly a two-lane undivided road with only relatively short sections near Stavanger, Trondheim and Bergen being motorw
  • Bolivia tunnel and highway project under construction
    February 9, 2017
    In Bolivia work is progressing on the strategic Incahuasi tunnel project – Mauro Nogarin writes In southern Bolivia, the Bolivian Highway Administrator (ABC) is supervising the construction of the Incahuasi Tunnel and Monteagudo-Muyupampa-Ipati road. This work is of fundamental importance for the country as it will improve the flow of traffic and boost trade between the departments of Santa Cruz and Chuquisaca. The Monteagudo-Ipati highway project includes the Incachuasi tunnel which has a length of 96km
  • Emicontrols introduces H1 Swing system with high pressure nebulisation
    March 11, 2016
    Italian company, Emicontrols, which is, based in Bolzano in the north of the country, and which is part of the Technoalpin Group, has developed, during the past year, a complete new range of products, working with high-pressure pumps. Among them there is the H1 Swing, which the company says can be used in open and closed spaces, such as quarries, deposits materials, steel mills, coal processing plants, cement factories, recycling plants, hangars, and in all indoor and outdoor places where dust represents
  • Emicontrols introduces H1 Swing system with high pressure nebulisation
    January 6, 2017
    Italian company, Emicontrols, which is, based in Bolzano in the north of the country, and which is part of the Technoalpin Group, has developed, during the past year, a complete new range of products, working with high-pressure pumps. Among them there is the H1 Swing, which the company says can be used in open and closed spaces, such as quarries, deposits materials, steel mills, coal processing plants, cement factories, recycling plants, hangars, and in all indoor and outdoor places where dust represents