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

  • Germany’s crumbling roads costing billions
    April 21, 2025
    Germany’s crumbling roads are costing billions to repair.
  • Statens vegvesen reviews bridge management
    August 25, 2023
    Norwegian Public Roads Administration director Ingrid Dahl Hovland wants to ensure that lessons learned regarding wooden bridge failures are integrated into maintenance strategies.
  • VIDEO: Saskatoon’s Traffic Bridge demolished to make way for new bridge
    January 11, 2016
    A 100-year-old Parker truss bridge in western Canada had no official name until its 90th birthday, in 2007. Now, The Traffic Bridge – across the South Saskatchewan River in the city of Saskatoon - is no more, after its demolition earlier this month.

    The Traffic Bridge, nearly 6m wide and 290m long and took a year to build, and was Saskatoon’s first bridge across the river when it opened in 1907. The bridge was built by Winnipeg city-based John D. Gunn and Sons.
  • New NY Bridge - Tappan Zee - main span towers poured
    December 16, 2016
    One of the largest US infrastructure projects is nearer completion after recent topping out of the eight main span towers of the New NY Bridge. The final concrete pour was in mid-December and all piles - more than 1,000 - have been installed in Hudson River. To date, 3,000 roadway panels for the approaches - making 5.5km in length - have been installed, according to the New York State Thruway Authority, owner of the New NY Bridge project. The New NY Bridge, also called the Tappan Zee Bridge, is on tra