01.12.05
Bowstring arch bridge removed
The Paddington Bridge Project team have successfully lowered and moved the bowstring arch bridge.
In 2004 the bridge was raised by ten metres by means of four strand jacks located in steel support towers in each corner of the bowstring. The old bridge remained suspended for 15 months while the new rail span of the replacement bridge was constructed on the deck of the canal bride and launched across the railway. In November 2005, the strand jacks were used to lower the bridge by approximately four metres.
A week later, Cleveland Bridge UK for principle contractor Hochtief (UK) Construction Ltd. detached the old bridge from the lifting beam and drove it across the new rail bridge to the canal bridge on four 27 tonne trailer assemblies. The following night the bridge was lowered onto trestles ready for demolition.
Keeping disruption to train services and maximising safety were priorities, which meant that in situ demolition of the old bridge was unfeasible. Hochtief’s lift and launch construction methodology has meant that critical path activities that had to take place over the railway were minimised. The canal span of the bridge is away from the railway, and so can be demolished in daytime hours. It will be dismantled with burning equipment and removed from the site as scrap.
The new structure will be wider and stronger than the old bridge, with two additional traffic lanes and two pedestrian footways
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