By: ViaCon Hamco GmbH
An underpass connected to the German Autobahn A45, which connects two villages, no longer met safety requirements and was scheduled to be rehabilitated. To help expedite the repair of the degraded underpass, the new corrugated steel structure was assembled in front of the existing bridge and was successively pulled into the existing bridge. Due to the total weight of about 160 tons, the transfer tracks where equipped with teflon rails to reduce friction resistance. As a result, a relatively small vehicle was sufficient to pull the corrugated steel structure. After completion of the assembly, the remaining space between the old and the new bridge structure was filled in stages so that the forces resulting from the traffic load could be taken over by the corrugated steel structure. In addition to the relatively short assembly time compared to the size of the structure, a special benefit is that the entire rehabilitation process took place without interfering with the highway traffic crossing above.
