Widening of the Angel Custodio bnidge over river the Turia, Valencia

Abstract

The project comprises the widening of the existing bridge from 15 m to 31.60 m, and providing two traffic lanes, each 10.40 m Wide, and two sidewalks, of 2.40 m width, as well as two protection zones, 0.50 in width, and a central separating section of 5 m. The bridge has 6 spans, each 20 m long, and two half circular vaults, of 5 m diameter, at each end of the bridge. The bridge had to maintain its present span arrangement, since it has been widened only on one side. The sinking of piles, and the building of the span supports was completed in six months. The 20 m span beams, on which the reinforced concrete bridge slab rests were to be cast at the site, but after careful study by the site management engineer and the contractors it was decided to built them on the river bed, and lift them by means of a crane, to shorten the construction time. This saves time, and made it unnecessary to close the traffic over the existing bridge; an important factor, since the bridge connects the roads from Valencia, Barcelona and Alicante. The mean time taken in attaching, lifting and placing each beam was 18 minutes.