The crane 'fishes' the span of the Bridge Pavilion for its next movement

11/2007

After tensing the cables the structure shall be moved 8 meters towards the left shore. Half of the framework constructed on site shall be employed as a counterweight for the transfer.

The cables from the auxiliary crane now cross the river and are attached to the end of the right span.

The right-hand span of the Bridge Pavilion has already been lifted by the 40m-crane and in the coming days shall pull upon the 2,200 tonne structure to move it towards the left shore of the River Ebro. This was without doubt, one of the most decisive operations which shall give way to the next stages in the process this week with strengthened guarantees. Meanwhile, the works continue on the interior of the bridge and its external structure.

The whole of last week was dedicated to the anchoring of the span via cables from the auxiliary crane set-up on the middle-half of the bridge and since yesterday the launching devices are being installed. Once set up, they shall be tensioned until they reached the desired stiffness.

On the other hand, the retaining set-up was finalized on the rear end of the launched structure, which shall be converted into the entrance way from ‘La Almanzora’. Once the cables were placed, which connect the bridge to the retaining block, to avoid undesirable movements during the maneuver, the right-hand span had to be moved back one meter to check its correct working behavior.

Also in the last few days the instrumentation, which controls all the forces, weight and positioning of the moved structure, has been updated for successive operations.

Also, on the fixed area, the provisional shores are being removed except in some specific points. This left half of the bridge shall work as a counterweight to the cables on the 40m-tower which will hold up the right part of the structure. Meanwhile, works continue on the inside and in the installations room located in the abutment on the left bank.
When the tensioning operation finalizes, the next 8 meter movement shall take place, taking the structure closer to its final position. This shall mean a total of 54m covered so far. Thus, the forward rollers shall be removed and the structure shall be moved a further 25m with the crane cables and the rear rollers. As well as this, further cables shall be employed to guide the bridge horizontally and to eliminate undesired movements.



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