Rhine Bridge Schierstein – Floating into position and lifting the middle piece
On the Schierstein bridge between Wiesbaden and Mainz, the middle piece was floated into position over the Biebrich arm of the Rhine and then lifted between the existing bridge sections on 19 January 2016.
From 8:00 am on, the about 2,000 tonne heavy superstructure member with a length of 120 metres was brought on a pontoon from the assembly area on the Rhine shore to its final position. The pontoon was drawn with ropes against the current of the river during a complete navigation lock of the Rhine. After several hours of driving, the bridge part was fastened to strand jacks and lifted.
In the coming weeks, the middle piece will be connected to the superstructure by welded joints. Then the work will be continued on the superstructure in the Mombach arm of the Rhine.
On the Schierstein bridge between Wiesbaden and Mainz, the middle piece was floated into position over the Biebrich arm of the Rhine and then lifted between the existing bridge sections on 19 January 2016.
From 8:00 am on, the about 2,000 tonne heavy superstructure member with a length of 120 metres was brought on a pontoon from the assembly area on the Rhine shore to its final position. The pontoon was drawn with ropes against the current of the river during a complete navigation lock of the Rhine. After several hours of driving, the bridge part was fastened to strand jacks and lifted.
In the coming weeks, the middle piece will be connected to the superstructure by welded joints. Then the work will be continued on the superstructure in the Mombach arm of the Rhine.
After the floating into position, the president of Hessen Mobil, Burkhard Vieth, welcomed the guests present. In his speech, Hessen's transport minister, Tarek Al-Wazir, presented the importance of the Schierstein bridge, especially for commuters, and recalled the two-month closure of the old bridge last year. Rainer Bomba, state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, praised the new bridge as an "example of the best engineering". Hessen Mobil then invited everyone to a snack bar where the guests could warm up and have some food.
The first superstructure will be completed by the end of 2016. Then the old bridge will be demolished and the upstream superstructure will be completed in this place by 2020. After completion of the Schierstein bridge with construction costs of over EUR 200 million, the expanded motorway should significantly improve the infrastructure in the Rhine-Main area.
KREBS+KIEFER is active with professor Dipl.-Ing. Günter Ernst as the verification engineer in a verification collaboration for the Schierstein bridge and has thereby taken on the verification of the substructures, installations and other construction aids, such as the skidway for the middle piece.
In addition, under the direction of Dipl.-Ing. (university of applied sciences) Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. (university of applied sciences) Christian Gabel, KREBS+KIEFER has since 2015 supported the constructor Hessen Mobil in the construction evaluation of the construction work and construction time tracking.
On the Mainz side of the Rhine and under the direction of Dipl.-Ing. Herberg Schmittinger, KREBS+KIEFER is performing the site supervision for the State Office of Mobility of the Rhineland Palatinate for the repair of the future "heart" of the Mainz-Mombach junction.
