The bypass round the city of Tartu is a large-scale infrastructure project now under construction. In terms of formwork engineering, bridging the Emajõgi River is one of the project’s biggest challenges. It was formworking expertise amassed over decades that brought this contract to Doka.
The steadily increasing volume of traffic in and around Tartu, second largest city in Estonia with a population of about 100,000, requires new approaches – in this case a new road network to keep urban traffic flowing. This road-building project faced a number of topographical hurdles, chief among which is undoubtedly the crossing of the Emajõgi River. To meet this challenge lead contractor K-MOST AS turned once again to formwork experts Doka, a company it has cooperated with over many years. The Doka engineers’ response to the challenge was a premiere in the Baltic region.
The new-build Tartu Bridge will be 400 m long overall and 15.5 m wide. Most of the formwork can be supported on compacted riverbank subsoil using the load-bearing shoring towers Staxo 100. The river itself cannot be dammed or even diverted however, so shoring over the full span is not an option. A high-performing Doka cantilever forming traveller made its debut in a Baltic state, to travel the 55-metre middle section of the bridge across the waters. Each of the concreting sections are 5.1 m long.
Doka formwork instructors were in attendance to coordinate setup and familiarise the site crew with the procedures. A formwork instructor was also on site for the cantilever forming traveller’s first advance, to make sure that everything went smoothly. From the second concreting section the site crew was well able to take charge of the advancing procedure without further assistance.
The cantilever forming traveller will be on site for only a very short time, so the project benefits from the Doka Group’s rental model. Instead of being bought outright, the formwork system is simply hired for the duration. Usage of the formwork system is billed by the day and the equipment is returned as soon as the job is done.
More information from Dave King, Cell +27(0)83 654 7211 / Email: South_Africa@doka.com
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