Precast Elements for Bridge Construction Taking Opportunities

摘要

The maintenance of the German federal highways is a top-priority for ensuring the necessary mobility for Germany as a competitive business location in the long term. In this context, bridges are the critical components. They are the essential links within our transport infrastructure, they accelerate traffic flow and make them safer and more efficient; they are, however, also the most sensitive components of our infrastructure. Currently, many of these structures have to carry loads that are several times higher than anticipated when they were designed and built. Therefore, they do not only have to be maintained but in many cases also strengthened or renewed. Thus, obstruction of traffic cannot be avoided in most cases. Accordingly, the aim must be to minimize the obstructions that will occur in the course of the many future construction measures. Construction methods with a high degree of prefabrication and short construction periods can help achieve this. Within the framework of a competition for ideas held by the highway authorities of North Rhine-Westphalia, innovative precast element solutions were sought for the construction of a new replacement bridge, which is what is discussed in this report.