Skip to main content

Challenging viaduct construction

TRAFFIC VOLUMES on Gran Canaria, the third largest of the Canary Islands, have been swelling rapidly in recent years, not least because of the boom in tourism. Among the routes most affected is the 32km long northern motorway GC-2 between Las Palmas and Agaëte, which has reached the limits of its capacity.
March 2, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
The up to 100m tall main piers are characterised by a marked upward taper and were constructed using the Doka automatic climbing formwork SKE 50
Traffic volumes on Gran Canaria, the third largest of the Canary Islands, have been swelling rapidly in recent years, not least because of the boom in tourism.

Among the routes most affected is the 32km long northern motorway GC-2 between Las Palmas and Agaëte, which has reached the limits of its capacity. Owing to the mountainous terrain, most of the new road is being routed through tunnels and across viaducts. With an overall length of 432m, a height of up to 104m and a sizeable longitudinal gradient, Viaducto 5 (Viaducto De Guia Pagador) is by far the most challenging viaduct in this major motorway building project.

The contracting consortium of 980 OHL-García Álamo-Félix Santiago Melián opted for an all-in-one solution from 203 Doka, which came up with a technically sophisticated solution for constructing the massively sized pier heads. The consortium also turned to Doka for the high-performing automatic climbing formwork being used to build the four, up to 104m tall, bridge piers.

With access to the construction locations being so difficult and crane capacity being limited to 12tonnes, both the forming operations and the site logistics have had to be planned extremely carefully, with a resource-optimised construction workflow that is precisely coordinated right down to the last detail.

The pre-stressed, single-cell box girder superstructure of the Viaducto De Guia Pagador is being constructed in casting sections of up to 5.4m in length by two pairs of Doka
cantilever forming travellers (CFT) that have been modified. This is achieved economically by a simple extension of the vertical girder on the lower side. A telescopic inside formwork is used for adjusting to the varying cross-section.

A specially developed extra joint-reinforcing waling makes it unnecessary to cut back the massive steel walings of the top 50 large area formwork system section by section. According to Doka this concept is saving the contracting consortium more than 60% of the custom components that would otherwise be required.

All of 13m long, the massively sized pier heads are being constructed on a solution based on main support girders. This involves two parallel steel girders being placed in the longitudinal direction through box-outs in the top casting section of the hollow pier. On Viaducto 5, two 18m long and 1m high steel girders are being used for this purpose. They are cranelifted into the box-outs and pushed through the piers by a hydraulic cylinder. Next, a girder grille that includes the formwork for the bottom slab of the pier head is placed on the main support girders on either side of the pier. Access to the main support girders is provided by catwalks from the platforms fixed to the bridge pier. This allows the girder grilles to be erected in safety.

After the bottom slab has been cast, the transverse stiffeners, the webs and the deck slab are then cast using top 50 large area formwork elements. Following completion of the pier head, the cross-girders and the girder grilles can easily be hydraulically lowered and then lifted off the pier.

The two imposing main piers of the Viaducto De Guia Pagador are 102m and 87m tall (Piers 2 and 3 respectively), and were constructed using Doka's automatic climbing formwork SKE 50.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Peri formwork for Danish port link tunnel project
    November 29, 2013
    The Nordhavnsvej – Vej- og Tunnelentreprise (Nordhavnsvej) project is Copenhagen’s largest infrastructure project in the last 50 years. The 1.65km-long route will eventually link the Danish capital’s northern port area with the Helsingør motorway. It runs through a very densely built urban area, in parts at depths of up to 22m. One particular challenge regarding the execution was planning the course of the tunnel because the underground structure also crosses a very busy railway line.
  • Nigeria’s giant city Lagos to benefit from a new cable-stayed bridge
    September 19, 2012
    The first cable-stayed bridge in Nigeria will link two districts of the megacity of Lagos Nigeria’s first cable-stayed bridge, the Lekki Ikoyi Bridge in the megacity of Lagos is scheduled for completion at the end of 2012. Its striking 90m high pylon characterises the appearance of the 1,357m long bridge, which will connect two districts of the West African city, Lekki on the Lekki Peninsula and Ikoyi on Lagos Island.
  • Croatia-Bosnia connection
    October 2, 2018
    The Svilaj Bridge connecting Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is nearly 40% complete, according to the contractors and the Croatian Motorways Directorate. Locally, the Svilaj Bridge – financially a 50-50 project between the two countries - is part of a motorway running from Beli Manastir to Osijek and on tyo Svilaj. But the route is also part of the motorway Budapest-Osijek-Sarajevo-Plocˇ which is the Pan European Corridor Vc (Corridor 5, branch c) connecting Budapest with the Adriatic.
  • Peri cantilever for Terfener Bridge
    May 17, 2021
    The Terfener Innbrücke reconstruction in the Inntal valley started in 2018 and is currently one of largest bridge construction projects in western Austria. In addition to providing planning services and onsite support, Peri has used its VBC Balanced Cantilever Carriage for the first time in Central Europe.