First it swings and then it floats: the new road bridge.
The Lanze-Buchhorst Bridge, built in the year 1900, connects the two communities of Lanze and Buchhorst which are separated by the Elbe-Lübeck canal. The steel lattice framework bridge is supported on abutments integrated into heavy-duty canal-side walls. Due to its poor condition, the bridge is only usable by traffic to a limited extent and requires replacement.
In order to erect its new replacement, the existing bridge together with its abutments will be broken up. Then a new bridge that will be both visually attractive, stable and suitable for traffic for the next century will be built on the same site. At the same time the bank walls of the canal will be set back to allow a wider channel for shipping traffic.
Due to the peaty soil, the new reinforced concrete cellular abutments will be founded on c. 15 metre long bore piles in deep, load-bearing sand layers. The sheet pile wall profiles of the new bank walls will also be set down in the sand layers and anchored to the head of the sheet pile wall with slanted anchors.
As the canal needs to continue to be used during the building works, the superstructure will be initially pre-assembled on land. Then it will be raised onto a floating pontoon with a 200-tonne crane and floated into its final position.
So the new bridge will initially swing over the canal and then float – until it reaches its place of installation. And there it will remain, at least for the next 100 years.
© BIN, BIN, WNA Magdeburg, BIN, BIN, BIN
