New bridge construction at Dresdner Platz: Prefabricated bridge composite parts already fully assembled
Last night, another section of what is currently the most important construction project in the city of Chemnitz was completed: At around 01:30, the last of a total of 68 prefabricated composite girders for the future bridge at Dresdner Platz was laid. This was originally not expected until January 2013.
The precast composite girders, each weighing around 20 tonnes, were manufactured directly on site in two field factories. Since mid-October, Deutsche Bahn AG's night-time shutdown periods have been used for assembly so as not to disrupt rail traffic at Chemnitz main station. Parallel to the night-time assembly work, the composite prefabricated girders are manufactured during the day, six per week. The completion of the bridge, which is divided into nine separate bridge segments with reinforcement and in-situ concrete to form a frame bridge structure, is scheduled for January 2013, depending on weather conditions.
The construction site will be secured after this construction phase by the middle of next week. The field factories are currently being dismantled and the auxiliary foundations, which were needed for the temporary storage of the bridge sections, are being demolished. At the same time, the formwork on the south-eastern retaining wall is still being removed. Construction work will be suspended for around two weeks over Christmas and the turn of the year.
In the 2nd week of the new year, work will begin on the reinforcement of the superstructure segments of the approx. 120 metre wide bridge, winter weather permitting. In addition, further civil engineering work and the laying of cables on Waisenstrasse will also begin.
The new bridge at Dresdner Platz will be provisionally open to traffic for the first time in summer 2013. The temporary bridge can be dismantled and the temporary road removed once the new superstructure is in place, and the new bridge replacement will be completed and finalised at the same time. The final completion of the construction project is scheduled for the end of 2013. The total costs amount to 24.8 million euros.