Skip to main content

Czech bridge sees world formwork debut

The Czech government is investing heavily in upgrading and modernising the country's top-tier transportation infrastructure. This year alone, building works with a total investment of over E1.6 billion are planned or underway on the Czech motorway and main road network. Completion of the D8 motorway between the Czech capital Prague and Dresden in the east of Germany has a high priority, and as part of this large-scale project, the contracting consortium of SMP and Metrostav is erecting the 585m long Prosmyk
July 23, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
The contracting consortium of SMP and Metrostav is erecting the motorway bridge over the River Elbe in the Czech Republic using the newly developed Doka cantilever forming traveller
The Czech government is investing heavily in upgrading and modernising the country's top-tier transportation infrastructure. This year alone, building works with a total investment of over E1.6 billion are planned or underway on the Czech motorway and main road network.

Completion of the D8 motorway between the Czech capital Prague and Dresden in the east of Germany has a high priority, and as part of this large-scale project, the contracting consortium of SMP and Metrostav is erecting the 585m long Prosmyky Bridge across the River Elbe.

Being built using the balanced cantilever method, the bridge is intended to relieve congestion on the existing old Elbe bridge and is scheduled to be opened for traffic in 2009.

This ambitious construction project marks the world debut for the newly-developed 203 Doka cantilever forming traveller.

Doka says that among the advantages of the rentable system are its modularity, which gives it maximum adaptability; its workplace-friendly design that uses optimised longitudinal trusses; an innovative drive concept using plastic slide bearings, and its standard of safety.

The Prosmyky Bridge spans the Elbe with a length of 585m, the box-girder superstructure resting on six piers, which are also being constructed using Doka Formwork Technology. The three spans of the superstructure are being cast by means of two Doka cantilever forming travellers in a total of 26 casting steps, each 15m wide and a maximum of 5m long. The widest span is 151m, giving the Prosmyky Bridge the longest span of any bridge in the Czech Republic.

Working outwards from a hammerhead, the segments are being poured and alternately post-tensioned on both sides of the piers. The cantilever forming traveller is fitted with Doka large-area formwork Top 50 elements. With sidewalls tapering from 7.5-3.5m; anchor blocks to be integrated in the middle of the carriageway slab; a quasi-hyperbolic radius of 325m, and the resulting change in the cross-section gradient from zero to 3.5%, the project makes some tough demands of the formwork solution, says Doka.

The Top 50 large-area formwork elements were delivered to the site by the Ceská Doka Ready-to-Use Service on a just-in-time (JIT) basis, pre-assembled with complete dimensional accuracy and ready for immediate use.

The cover-slab anchor blocks, positioned in the middle of the carriageway slab, present a particular challenge here, and the site crew is dealing with this by using specially made anchor-block box-outs, also fabricated by Ceská Doka's Ready-to-Use Service.

Doka's "innovative" cantilever forming traveller is dimensioned for casting 5m long bridge segments weighing up to 250tonnes, and this is sufficient to cover more than 90% of all balanced cantilever bridge projects anywhere in the world, says Doka.

"The Doka cantilever forming traveller's modular, flexible structure allows it to be used for forming straight, inclined and multi-cell box girder cross-sections without any time-wasting, cost-intensive modifications. It can also be used to form T-beams," says the company.

"As well as optimising the geometry and flexibility of the cantilever forming traveller by way of its modular structure, another main focus of the development effort, spread over several years, was on enhancing the workplace safety."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ulma uses its CVS Cantilever Formwork Carriage over the Odra
    February 11, 2020
    A second Odra River bridge in Cigacice is the last stage of work for a section of the S3 expressway in Poland’s Lubuskie township. The bridge is part of the S3 route between Sulechów to Nowa Sól and is expected to be completed by year’s end.
  • The bridge to reduced traffic
    February 28, 2012
    In Zaporozhye, the industrial metropolis in Ukraine's south-east, a multi-lane cable stayed bridge is being built alongside an older viaduct. On completion, this large-scale infrastructure project will massively reduce the traffic burden on the existing bridge and significantly improve the daily traffic situation at this major river crossing.
  • Doka’s fine form
    June 18, 2012
    Doka’s SKE50 automatic climbing formwork are being used on two suspension towers for a new multi-lane cable-stayed bridge alongside an older viaduct in Zaporozhye, south-east Ukraine. On completion, this large-scale infrastructure project is set to massively reduce the traffic burden on the existing bridge and significantly improve the daily traffic situation at what is a major river crossing. The two separate roadway slabs are cable-stayed off twin H-shaped suspension towers 150metres high. Lead project co
  • Major project to construct landmark Bay Bridge in California
    October 31, 2012
    Iconic California crossing will offer seismic safety – Adrian Greeman reports A unique single-span single-tower suspension bridge is the iconic centrepiece of a dramatic renewal of the eastern Bay Bridge in California, crossing from San Francisco to Oakland. Tourists in San Francisco sometimes mix up their bridges, identifying as the famous Golden Gate, the double suspension bridge which runs across the wide San Francisco Bay. These serially linked bridges in fact form the Bay Bridge east to Oakland whereas