One of the biggest cranes of its kind in the world was set up in Lowestoft for the arrival and installation of the first steel sections for the southern side of the Gull Wing bridge.
The huge crane was in place for when South Approach Viaduct (SAV) sections 1 and 3 arrived at the construction site on Lake Lothing on the evening of Sunday April 23 on a barge from Ghent in Belgium.
We are constructing the bridge for Suffolk County Council.
Fabricated by Victor Buyck Steel Construction, SAV1 is approximately 35 metres long and SAV3 is 41m long.
SAV1 will weigh 105 tonnes and SAV3 weighed 213 tonnes.
The huge crane has been erected on the southern side of Lake Lothing to move the sections.
The Terex Demag CC8800-1 has a maximum lifting capacity of 1,600 tonnes and is one of the largest crawler cranes in the world.
It was brought into Lowestoft from Copenhagen and off-loaded by the crane used to unload the northern approach sections that arrived from the Netherlands last month.
Assembly and testing of the crane took approximately 10 days.
SAV3 was offloaded first and placed on a temporary base. SAV1 was then offloaded directly into position on the Southern Approach Abutment and Pier 1.
The barge sailed back to Ghent to collect SAV2 and SAV4. SAV2 is 30m long and weighs 90 tonnes, while SAV4 is 45m long and 381 tonnes.
SAV3 was then picked up from the temporary base and placed onto Piers 2 and 3. Finally, SAV4 was lifted directly from the barge onto Piers 3 and 4.
Once in place, a site weld and bolted splices will secure the four sections to each other. A concrete pour will then set the viaduct in its final position.
26 сен 2024
