Record breaking ABM bridge beams installed near Raith, Scotland

One of the largest mobile cranes in the UK, a 1,500tonne capacity unit, recently positioned nine 90tonne 42m pre-stressed bridge beams by ABM Precast Solutions. The massive W-beams were hoisted into place at Junction 5, the Raith Interchange, on Scotland’s M74 motorway – part of the M8-M73-M74 motorway improvements project.
September 30, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Up, up and away for ABM's W-beams

One of the largest mobile cranes in the UK, a 1,500tonne capacity unit, recently positioned nine 90tonne 42m pre-stressed bridge beams by 8508 ABM Precast Solutions.

The massive W-beams were hoisted into place at Junction 5, the Raith Interchange, on Scotland’s M74 motorway – part of the M8-M73-M74 motorway improvements project.

The Raith interchange is a noted pinch point in the Scottish motorway system, so installation took place in three night operations from midnight to four in the morning. The W-beams are among the largest bridge beams of this type fabricated in the UK in recent years. ABM are supplying precast structures to six other bridges on the £500 million project being delivered for Scottish Roads Partnership on behalf of Transport Scotland.

The beams were also the largest pre-stressed beams produced by ABM since a major upgrading of the company’s factory in the mid-England village of Tuxford.

Each W-beam was cast in purpose-built heated moulds ensuring rapid uniform curing to achieve the 50N/m2 stress load transfer strength. Each beam has more than a 1,700tonnes pre-stress load.

The loads were carried by Walker Haulage of Tuxford to the Scottish border - without escort.  Local police then escorted the steering bogie trailers to site to complete the near-420km journey.

Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

ABM

Related Content

  • Managing urban motorway complexity in Sydney
    October 4, 2012
    Sydney’s Hills M2 motorway is being widened while still carrying traffic and meeting tough environmental criteria More than 100,000 vehicles and over 27,000 bus commuters use the Hills M2 motorway on a typical workday, making it one of Sydney’s busiest motorway corridors. Owned and managed by Hills Motorway Ltd (HML) and a key part of the city’s orbital motorway network, the road stretches over 21km, providing a seamless link between the Lane Cove Tunnel and Westlink M7. The Hills M2 Upgrade is one of many
    Read More
  • More on the Newmarket Viaduct replacement
    June 15, 2012
    When it was completed in 1965 – just six years after the Auckland Harbour Bridge – the six-lane Newmarket Viaduct with its tall, slender piers was something of an engineering wonder, the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Forty years on it had become a much-maligned contributor to Auckland’s chronic traffic congestion, too weak seismically to withstand the heaviest loaded trucks let alone a severe earthquake, so narrow in the shoulders that any accident stopped traffic flow and made it difficult
    Read More
  • Australian bridge slides into position
    July 18, 2012
    A heavy rail crossing as part of Australia's EastLink motorway demanded great ingenuity and careful planning Most of the 88 bridges on the EastLink tolled motorway in, Melbourne, Australia were kept as simple and straightforward as possible. Contractor Thiess John Holland (TJH) developed its own precast yard 150km from the city, which provided many of the prefabricated materials required for the structures. This offered speed and economy while logistics and sequencing were vital for their erection. But the
    Read More
  • The UK’s A14 route is seeing a major upgrade
    June 14, 2018
    Work is progressing well on the project to upgrade the busy A14 route in the UK. A major milestone has been achieved with and important phase of the bridge installation having taken place. A 39m viaduct beam has been placed successfully for the bridge, which spans the River Ouse in Cambridgeshire. A key role in this work has been taken by the firm Cleveland Bridge UK. As part of Highways England’s £1.5 billion A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, Cleveland Bridge was contracted by the A14 Integr
    Read More

Highlighted Content