Moved into position centimeter by centimeter

As part of the new Vilshofen an der Donau bypass, an 82 meter long and 16.66 meter wide prestressed concrete bridge is being built that in the future will carry traffic over the double-track Vilshofen-Passau railway line and the B8 federal highway. In addition to the two abutments, the bridge is supported by three slim round piers arranged centrally beneath the bridge superstructure. Due to the narrow pier foundations and the tight 130 meter radius of the bridge, supporting the scaffolding in the pier axes required a complex solution involving the use of removable girders to widen the foundations in longitudinal direction. It was also necessary to select a concreting method that ensured the scaffolding remained in balance at all times. To erect the four support towers (röro S150 heavy-duty props) for each pier axis, extra-long foot beams were installed below the edge areas of the bridge to transfer the scaffolding loads. Support girders mounted in transverse direction and HEB 1000 girders in longitudinal direction complemented the scaffolding. Installation of the HEB girders and the formwork above the rail tracks was carried out during an 8-hour nighttime line closure. The fact that thyssenkrupp Infrastructure had by far the biggest stocks of materials for scaffolding systems and was able to deliver all components to the site quickly and just in time was a positive factor.

After dismantling the scaffolding and formwork, in December 2020 the finished bridge superstructure was lowered by a total of 190 centimeters. Temporary support was provided by so-called set-down stacks and jack stacks. These stacks including the hydraulic synchronous jacking system were installed on the pier heads and abutments by thyssenkrupp’s hydraulic experts. The axis-by-axis lowering of the superstructure was controlled by a total of 16 computer-linked jacks – two per abutment and four per pier.

If the final work on the bridge structure is also completed on schedule by the middle of 2021, it is expected that the bypass will be opened to traffic in 2024.