Steel lift bridge
The new “Upper Bank Street (UBS) Lifting Bridge” weighs 275 tons and is a steel single-sided lift bridge with a bridge deck suitable for heavy traffic. In addition to the new construction of the bridge deck, measuring 26m by 22m, Hollandia has also overhauled the existing electro / hydraulic drive and made it suitable for reuse. The electro-hydraulic work was carried out under contract by Qualter Hall. Various civil works have also been carried out on the northern abutment and small steel work, such as plating and railing, has been newly installed. The steel bridge deck hinges on the south side on the reinforced concrete construction in the Crossrail station. The north side of the bridge deck is lifted using a hydraulically powered lifting cylinder, which has been reused from the old bridge. With this lift bridge, the North Dock is navigable for shipping traffic. This was a condition of the client in order to meet the corresponding British Waterways requirement.
Location of the project
The New Upper Bank Street (UBS) Lifting Bridge spans the North Dock and is located at the north end of Canary Wharf Estate between the junction of the Aspen Way highway and the Canary Wharf Crossrail Station. The new UBS will link Upper Bank Street with the new Crossrail station. The work was carried out in a densely populated and built-up environment. The area was also part of one of Europe’s largest construction sites at the time. There were no significant incidents or accidents during the construction of the bridge on the construction site.
Installation on site
The bridge was transported in five prefabricated bridge sections in one transport to its final location via Hoek van Holland to Harwich. The bridge sections were transported via road transport trailers and welded together on site and connected to the hydraulic ram.