Road widening means bridge demolition

Two heavy Atlas Copco hydraulic breakers have been used to demolish a bridge on the A40 autobahn at Junction 28 in Gelsenkirchen-Süd, Germany. The bridge was used to carry the four lanes of the A40 over the B277 main road. As the key route in the Ruhr district, the A40 is being widened to incorporate six lanes, so the old bridge needed to be demolished.
February 24, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Two heavy 161 Atlas Copco hydraulic breakers have been used to demolish a bridge on the A40 autobahn at Junction 28 in Gelsenkirchen-Süd, Germany. The bridge was used to carry the four lanes of the A40 over the B277 main road. As the key route in the Ruhr district, the A40 is being widened to incorporate six lanes, so the old bridge needed to be demolished.

Viersen-based Prangenberg & Zaum had only two days to complete the demolition, commissioned by 945 Strabag. The contractor has a number of Atlas Copco breakers in its fleet and opted to use heavy-duty hammers from the firm for the demolition work, a 7tonne HB7000, a 5.8tonne HB5800 and a 2.5tonne HB2500. Using these tools the solid reinforced concrete bridge and bridge heads were removed in about 32 hours. A pulveriser crushed the demolition waste while it was still on site and the waste was then transferred to Prangenberg & Zaum's recycling station for further processing. The total volume of the demolition project was 2,300m3 of concrete with steel reinforcement and the breakers performed reliably while carrying out the work.

The A40 runs from Straelen on the Dutch border, over the Rhine and across the Ruhr region to Dortmund and is the main arterial road in the Ruhr. Around 120,000 vehicles/day travel around the city of Bochum at peak times, meaning the A40 carries the heaviest traffic in the Ruhr region.

Work on gradually widening the motorway to six lanes was begun in 2010 and should be completed in 2012.
Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bridge lift in Orlando for interstate rebuild
    July 4, 2019
    Measuring 33.8km long and costing US$2.3 billion, Orlando’s massive I-4 Ultimate is the largest infrastructure project in the Florida Department of Transportation’s history. Divided into four phases, the project requires major bridge work to improve traffic flow through Central Florida. In all, 13 existing structures are being widened, 53 new bridges added and 74 bridges replaced. Area 2, currently under construction, runs through Orlando from Highway 50 at the northern edge to the Highway 423/I-4 interc
    Read More
  • First concrete beam raised for new Mersey bridge link
    December 11, 2015
    The first concrete bridge beam for a junction on the new Mersey Gateway route has been lifted into place. Work is underway on a major road junction for the Mersey Gateway Project, with the first of 156 of the concrete beams has been lifted into place as work ramps up at a major road junction. A 550tonne capacity crane lowered the 106tonne beam into position at the Bridgewater junction in Runcorn, where the new Astmoor Bridgewater viaduct is being built over the Bridgewater canal. Two elevated slip roads ar
    Read More
  • A series of upgrades will improve Moscow’s road network
    October 26, 2012
    A series of major road projects will help improve Moscow’s connectivity. Russian contractor Mostotrest is to rebuild a series of road connections in Moscow, following the agreement of a deal with the Moscow Construction Department. The road building work will be on the southern section of the North-West Chord, a junction with the Skolkovo Highways and the Moscow Ring Road. Mostotrest will also construct new infrastructure and the whole package of works is worth some US$1.13 billion. The work will be carried
    Read More
  • 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.
    Read More

Highlighted Content