Skip to main content

48 hours re-opening

Using demolition tools from Atlas Copco helped to maximise productivity on a highly time-sensitive project in Germany. The A3 autobahn runs from the Dutch/German border through the western part of the Ruhr area, the Cologne area, the Rhine-Main area and Bavaria down to the Austrian border at Stuben. It is one of the most heavily used highways in Germany and because of increasing traffic volumes, widening the road to six lanes has become necessary.
July 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Using Atlas Copco demolition attachments helped the fast removal of an old bridge over a busy German autobahn in a strict timeframe
Using demolition tools from 161 Atlas Copco helped to maximise productivity on a highly time-sensitive project in Germany. The A3 autobahn runs from the Dutch/German border through the western part of the Ruhr area, the Cologne area, the Rhine-Main area and Bavaria down to the Austrian border at Stuben. It is one of the most heavily used highways in Germany and because of increasing traffic volumes, widening the road to six lanes has become necessary.

Near Randersacker an old bridge crossing the river Main built in 1964 was demolished using explosives and a new wider one was erected just 3m away. This new bridge is already in use.

After the 540m long Main bridge was blown up, the B13 underneath the bridge was to be re-opened to traffic in just 48 hours. This required some 1,500m3 of reinforced concrete which collapsed on this particular section of the B13 to be crushed and another 800m3 of a layer provided to protect the top surface of the road to be removed. Across the entire length of the former pre-stressed steel bridge, a total of 25,000m3 of reinforced concrete had to be taken care of.

Eight Atlas Copco hydraulic breakers with service weights from 1.2-7tonnes were used for the job by the contractor Ruppert KG Erdbau + Abbruch while six hydraulic pulverisers were used to crush the bridge fragments on the spot. Part of the bridge could not be demolished using explosives and was instead cut down using Atlas Copco CC 2500 U and CC 3300 U CombiCutters mounted on 718 Liebherr R954 and R974 long reach excavators. The B13 was already cleared after just 36 hours, so that the Federal road could be opened to traffic much earlier than scheduled.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Hydraulic breakers key to Hyderabad road project
    May 8, 2012
    The new Hyderabad Outer Ring Road (ORR) project is a 158km eight-lane highway encircling the Andhra Pradesh city. It has been designed to relieve congestion in and around the city and to act as a hub for accessing India's national highway network, and is being built for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. Indian contractor Ramky Infrastructure is relying on an Atlas Copco MB 1700 hydraulic breaker to break granite as aggregates at a quarry site adjacent to the new road. The rock is bein
  • Duisburg double for lift specialist Sarens
    June 5, 2024
    Heavy lift specialist Sarens overcame challenging wind and water conditions during installation of two strategic road bridges - the Oberbürgermeister Karl Lehr Brücke and the Hafenkanalbrücke - in the German city of Duisburg.
  • Working in tandem
    August 16, 2018
    A tandem crane lift has been carried out in Kuwait on a major project in using Demag machines from Terex. The two machines have been used on the Kuwaiti government's Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Causeway Project. This 36km-long road connection is among the world's largest infrastructure projects underway at present. The project includes a 27km-long bridge over Kuwait Bay. The Kuwaiti logistics service provider Integrated Logistics Company (ILC) is carrying out key sections of the project, moving pre-a
  • BarrierGuard 800 keeps key U.S. bridge open
    April 11, 2013
    BarrierGuard 800 from Highway Care is said to be preventing the closure of a vital highway bridge in the United States. As a critical part of the US national infrastructure, the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge services the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The link allows the transporting of spent nuclear fuel and heavy freight bound to and from the naval shipyard, with an average of 15,000 vehicles per day crossing this structurally deficient bridge. The railing along the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge had begun to deterio